DE102018124414A1 - SYSTEMS AND METHOD FOR EASILY DEVELOPING THE GRAPHIC DISPLAY CONFIGURATION IN A PROCESS CONTROL LAYOUT - Google Patents

Abstract

A graphical display configuration system of a process control system provides functions within the configuration environment that allow a user to create, define, manipulate, and easily edit the runtime appearance and / or runtime behavior of graphical elements and / or graphical displays in accordance with the user's configuration process to pre-display without having to compile and / or download designs of graphical configurations into the operating environment of a process plant supported process plant and / or without having to implement special scripts within the operating environment of the process plant. Previews of run-time phenomena and / or run-time behavior of designs of graphic element configurations and / or graphical displays (which eventually are to be executed within the operating environment of the process control system) can be generated and presented only within the configuration environment, e.g. For testing and / or verification.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the precedence and advantage of the filing date of the provisional application filed on 2 October 2017 U.S. Patent Application No. 62 / 566,679 entitled "Systems and Methods for Graphical Display Configuration and Usage in Process Control Plants", the entire disclosure of which is hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference.

AREA OF REVELATION

This disclosure generally relates to process control systems, and more particularly to systems and methods for configuring graphics that are used by operators to display and respond to real-time conditions inside and outside an industrial process plant.

BACKGROUND

Distributed process control systems are used in chemical, pharmaceutical, petroleum, oil and gas, metal and mining, pulp and paper or other types of industrial process equipment to control one or more industrial processes and thereby one or more physical processes Produce or manufacture products from raw materials and / or other types of source materials. Therefore, distributed process control systems typically include one or more process controllers and input / output (I / O) devices that communicate with at least one host or operator interface device and with one or more field devices via analog, digital, or combined analog / digital buses or via a wireless communication link or a wireless network are coupled. The field devices, which may be, for example, valves, valve positioners, switches, and transducers (eg, temperature, pressure, level, and flow sensors) are located within the process environment and generally perform physical or process control functions, such as opening or closing of valves or measuring process parameters to control one or more industrial processes running within the process plant or system. Intelligent field devices, such as field devices that conform to the known fieldbus protocol, may also perform control calculations, alerting functions, and other control functions that are commonly implemented in a controller. The process controllers, which are typically also in the plant environment, receive signals indicative of process measurements from sensors or field devices and / or other information to the field devices, and execute a control application that executes, for example, various control modules that make process control decisions received information generate control signals and coordinate with the control modules or blocks implemented in the field devices, such as HART®, Wireless HART® and FOUNDATlON® Fieldbus field devices. The control modules in the controller send the control signals over the communication lines or connections to the field devices to thereby control the operation of at least a portion of the process plant or system.

Information from the field devices and the controller are typically provided via an information highway to one or more other hardware devices, such as user interfaces, personal computers or computing devices, data historians, report generators, central databases, or other central administrative computing devices that typically, but not always, placed in control rooms or other locations outside the harsh plant environment. Each of these hardware devices is typically, though not always, centralized across the process plant or over part of the process plant. These hardware devices execute applications that allow an operator, for example, to view current states and processes of processes running in the plant, to perform functions related to the control of a process and / or the operation of the process plant, such as: Changing the settings of the process control routine, changing the operation of the control modules within the controllers or the field devices, displaying alarms generated by field devices and controllers, simulating the operation of the process for the purpose of training personnel or testing The data highway used by the hardware devices, controllers, and field devices may include a wired communication path, a wireless communication path, or a combination of wired and wireless communication paths.

As an example, the DeltaV ™ control system sold by Emerson includes several applications stored and executed within various user interface devices located at various locations within a process plant and, in some cases, remote from the process plant. Each of these applications has a user interface (UI) that allows a user (eg, a configurator, an operator, a service technician, etc.), aspects of the operation, and the user interface Display and / or change the configuration of the process plant. In this specification, the term "user interface" or "UI" is used to refer to an application or screen that allows a user to view or change the configuration, operation, or status of the process plant. Likewise, the term "user interface device" or "UI device" is used herein to refer to a device on which a user interface is operated, whether stationary (eg, a workstation, a wall display, a personal computer) Display of the process control device, etc.) or mobile (eg, a laptop, tablet computer, smartphone, etc.).

A configuration application located in one or more user workstations or computing devices included in a process plant configuration environment allows configuration engineers and / or other types of users to create or modify process control modules and these process control modules via a data highway to dedicated distributed controllers working in an operating environment of the process plant (hereafter also interchangeably referred to as the "process environment" of the process plant) to control one or more processes during runtime or real time operation. Typically, these control modules consist of communicatively linked function blocks that perform functions within the control scheme based on their inputs and provide outputs to other function blocks within the control scheme. Each dedicated controller, and in some cases one or more field devices, stores and executes a corresponding control application that executes the control modules assigned and downloaded to it to implement the actual process control functionality.

The configuration application also allows configuration engineers and / or other users to create or modify operator human machine interfaces (HMIs) or display views used by an operator display application to retrieve data (e.g., because the data is in real-time) the operation of the process plant) to an operator and allow the operator to change various settings, such as set points, within the process control routines during runtime operation. The operator display applications that provide the operator HMIs or screen views are executed on one or more user interface devices (eg, operator workstations, operator panels, mobile operator devices, etc.) that are integrated into the operating environment of the process plant (or one or more remote computing devices in communication with the operator workstations and the data highway). The operator HMIs or display views receive data from the control applications via the information superhighway and display that data to the operators or other users who use the user interfaces on the user interface devices. Similarly, the operator HMIs or display views may also receive data (eg, real-time data) from other control components or elements included in the operating environment of the process plant, with the exception of control modules such as controllers, process controllers, field devices, I / O devices. Cards or devices, other types of hardware devices, units, areas, and the like. A data historian application is typically stored and executed in a data historian apparatus that collects and stores some or all of the data provided over the information highway while a configuration database application may be executed in yet another computer connected to the data highway to determine the current configuration of the data processor Process control routine to store the current configuration of the operator display and associated data. Alternatively, the configuration database may reside on the same workstation as the configuration application.

As noted above, the operating view applications typically execute in one or more of the user interface devices and provide user interfaces or display views of the operating state of the control system, the control components, and / or the devices within the system, e.g. B. during operation of the system in real time or at runtime to control one or more industrial processes. In general, operator HMIs or display views of operators in daily operations (which may be 24/7 operation, for example) of the process running in the process plant will be used to indicate real-time conditions within the process and / or the process plant to react. For example, at least some of these control HMIs or display views may be alarming displays that receive alarms generated by controllers or devices within the process plant, control displays that indicate the operating state of the controllers and other devices within the process plant, maintenance displays that include the Display the operating status of the devices within the process plant, etc. Display views, which are typically executed in the runtime or real-time operating environment of the process plant, are generally configured to provide information or information in a known manner Represent data received from process control modules, devices, and / or other control objects that also operate within the runtime or real-time operating environment of the process plant. In some known systems, display views have a graphical element (e.g., a graphical representation or graphic) associated with a physical or logical element contained within the operating environment that is communicatively connected to the physical or logical element to receive data about the physical or logical element and to update it over time, e.g. B. during runtime operation of the process plant. The graphical element may be configured or defined to dynamically change its appearance on the screen based on the received data, for example, to illustrate that a tank is half full to illustrate the flow rate measured by a flow sensor, etc. Since The data provided by the physical or logical element in the process plant operating environment will change over time (eg, be repeated or continuously updated), the appearance of the corresponding graphical element on the screen will change accordingly.

In some current industrial process control system operator display configuration architectures, each operator workstation independently manages its own alarms and access to real-time control data generated by process control modules, devices, and / or other control objects. To customize an operator HMI or view for a particular operator workstation, user-defined graphical properties, values, and / or configurations of various display view elements (e.g., graphical and other types of elements) to be displayed on the runtime display view are defined and Display view is assigned within a graphical configuration environment, and the definition or configuration of the display view is downloaded from the configuration environment to the respective operating environment of the operating environment for execution. Frequently, custom scripts are programmed into the configuration of the display view so that the desired behavior and / or appearance of the various display elements and / or the display view itself is performed at the respective operator workstation. In addition, if the appearance or behavior of the display view is to be changed or changed for the particular operator workstation, the changes typically need to be applied to the configuration of the display view in the graphical configuration environment, and then the changed configuration from the configuration environment must be executed at the respective operator workstation be downloaded. In most cases, this requires the respective operator workstation to suspend the execution of the current display view so that the changed configuration of the display view can be received and executed at the respective operator workstation.

In other currently known industrial process control system operator display configuration architectures, a common display view configuration is being downloaded from the graphical configuration environment to multiple operator workstations. However, in order to effect certain user-defined manifestations and / or behaviors of the display view at a particular operator workstation, the particular operator workstation on which the display view is executed must, at runtime, interrogate or otherwise communicate with the graphical configuration environment to obtain necessary information. e.g., certain configurations of various graphics, runtime values, and / or other information) to effect or implement the desired user-defined manifestations and / or behaviors of the display view at the respective operator workstation. Because modern process equipment can include hundreds of operator workstations, the messages sent and received between operator workstations and backend display configuration servers place a significant burden on the process plant communication networks.

Recently, the Center for Operator Performance (COP), a research consortium dealing with human capabilities and limitations in industrial process control operating environments through research, collaboration and human factor engineering, and the International Society of Automation (ISA) have been working to develop the industrial process control To further develop the process control system Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs) and its user-friendliness, for example by proposing improvements and guidelines for Human Centered Design (HCD). For example, the one adopted on 9 July 2015 American National Standard ANSI / ISA-101.01.-2015 entitled "Human Machine Interfaces for Process Automation Systems" with the philosophy, design, implementation, operation and maintenance of Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs) for process automation systems including multiple work processes throughout the HMI lifecycle .... The standard defines the terminology and models for development and HMI in the work processes recommended for effectively maintaining the HMI throughout the life cycle "(ANSI / ISA-101.01-2015, page 9).

SUMMARY

As discussed above, operator Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs) or display views are generally used by operators during runtime operations of the process to indicate and respond to conditions within the process and / or the process plant. The effectiveness of process plant operators in the safe and effective operation of the process, as well as in the detection and response to various process and equipment conditions, depends to a large extent on how well the operator HMIs or display views are designed (eg the configuration engineers or other HMI designers). However, recent changes in the operation of industrial process equipment have had a major impact on the design of operator HMIs. For example, continued competitive pressure in the process control industry has led to a significant widening of the span of part of the process for which a single operator is responsible. With this enhancement, the number of process graphics the individual operator must monitor and use to perform the process safely and efficiently has increased many times over. In fact, operators in a modern process plant are expected to navigate hundreds of process graphics. In addition, trends such as increasing intelligence in plant equipment and more automated and advanced control logic in process control technology have led to a significant increase in the complexity of the part of the process for which a single operator is responsible.

In addition, the workspace used by a single operator may include one to several consoles or monitors of various sizes. The number and size of the monitors and / or consoles is often determined by the size and complexity of the part of the process being monitored by the operator. If an operator's workspace includes multiple monitors, each monitor typically has a custom layout defined for the particular monitor size, location, and part of the process being monitored. For example, the custom layout defines which ads to open on which monitor, how ads interact on different monitors, and so on.

Since no two process plants or operating sections within a plant are the same, each process plant often develops and designs its own, customer-specific operating philosophies, graphics, and / or graphic standards for effective operation. Accordingly, the operator HMI graphics, strategies, design, layout, navigation, and / or operator actions may be highly customized for different operating areas and / or different process plants.

These and other factors have made the work of the configurator in the design of user interfaces increasingly difficult. Often, configuration engineers need to create complex, programmatic extensions to operator HMIs to customize or enhance various functions for particular operating sections and / or facilities. In general, configuration engineers must use programming languages such as Visual Basic or C and / or other custom programs to build the desired operator HMI. This results in a complex HMI suite for the operator, whose development, enhancement, troubleshooting and maintenance is difficult and time consuming.

At least some of the aspects of the novel graphical display configuration and application systems and methods disclosed herein address these and other modern HMI challenges and provide a platform for the design and use of HMI for industrial process control that is not only flexible, easy to use It also helps engineers to design and implement the HMI of their process plant operating environment in terms of current HMI standards and process automation best practices.

In one embodiment, a graphical display configuration and application system for an industrial process plant (hereinafter also interchangeably referred to as a "graphical configuration system" or "graphical configuration and application system") includes a graphical display configuration application executing in a process plant configuration environment. The graphical display configuration application includes a user interface through which various operator HMIs or display views can be created, defined, designed and / or published, e.g. B. by a configurator. A configured or defined display view provides an operator or other user with real-time operating states and states of various components and operations associated with the process (eg, continuously or repeatedly updated) when downloading and executing in the process plant's operating environment. As such, a display view typically includes corresponding links between one or more display view elements displayed on the display view and one or more control modules, devices, or control objects that facilitate the process within the display To control the operating environment of the process plant so that when downloading and executing a published configuration of the display view on a user interface device that is communicatively connected to an operating environment of the process plant (eg, at an operator workstation, a remote computing device, a mobile device, etc.) Displaying one or more values or other data provided or generated by one or more control modules, devices or control objects during execution in the process plant operating environment, on the executing display view, e.g. B. via the linked display elements, displayed and updated repeatedly.

The graphical display configuration system also includes a centralized configuration database or library that stores published views or definitions of display views as well as published configurations or definitions of display view elements that are available to be included in or otherwise associated with various display views. In some embodiments, the centralized configuration database or library also stores drafts of configurations or definitions of display views and / or display view elements. Examples of display view elements are graphics, properties, links to control modules, devices, objects and / or other control components or elements located in the operating environment, global variables, parameters, areas or subsections of the display view, and / or other elements and / or parts of the display view display view. In one example, the centralized configuration database or library for a particular display view stores a published configuration of the particular display view and optionally one or more work or design configurations of the respective display view. The published configuration of the respective display view may include one or more published configurations of various display elements to appear on the executing display view, and the published display view configuration is available for download and execution in the process environment of the process plant. On the other hand, the one or more working or design configurations of the respective display view are excluded from download and execution in the process environment of the process plant. That is, work or design configurations of display views and display view elements are prevented from downloading and executing in the operating environment of the process and instead maintained within the configuration environment, e.g. For editing, changing, testing, etc.

The published configuration or definition of the respective display view includes one or more user controls through which an operator or user of the user interface device incorporated in the process plant operating environment is able to change the appearance of the executing display view on its respective user interface device online during runtime operation. For example, the operator may have the appearance of a graphic, a property of a graphic, an area of the display view, a property, and / or the content of the area of a display view, a position of a graphic on the display view, via the one or more controls on its respective user interface device. modify certain data related to a control module, device, or control object to be displayed, and / or other appearances of elements, areas, or portions of the executing display view. In particular, the graphical configuration system allows the change in the appearance of the executing display view in the operating environment to be implemented at the operator workstation based solely on the content of the published configuration or the definition of the display view executed at the operator workstation. That is, the downloaded, published configuration of the display view allows the operator to adjust or change the appearance of the display view at the operator's workstation while the display view is being executed online in the operating environment without having to stop the execution of the display view without another Configuration of the display view and without the display view and / or the operator workstation need to obtain data from the configuration environment to make the desired change.

When the published configuration or definition of the respective display view is downloaded to a plurality of user interface devices or operator stations included in the process plant operating environment, each operator or user can have the local appearance of the instance of the display view executed at his workstation independent of other operators or customize or change users without their workstation communicating with the graphical display configuration application and configuration library. Some of the operator-initiated changes or adjustments may be implemented in a particular workstation in a mutually exclusive manner, e.g. For example, a fill property of a graphic is selected by the operator to be either gray or blue, but not both gray and blue. Some of the changes follow a specific one Workplace may not be mutually exclusive (for example, the changes can be applied cumulatively or independently). For example, if the operator draws and stores graphics indicating certain controls that the operator would like to (actively and simply) monitor, drag and drop into an active monitor or monitor window that is displayed in the display view.

In one embodiment, a method for configuring graphical displays for runtime or realtime operations of a process plant includes receiving a definition of a display view via a user interface of a graphical display configuration application executing in a process plant configuration environment. The display view typically includes various graphical elements representative of the respective control modules, devices, and / or other control components (hereinafter also interchangeably referred to as controls or control objects) that are executed or operated in the operating environment of the process plant, e.g. B. to control at least part of the process, such. Controllers, process controllers, field devices, I / O cards or devices, other types of hardware devices, devices, regions, etc. Accordingly, the definition of the display view defines a connection between a graphical element displayed on the display view and a control component or object, so on in downloading and executing the display view in the operating environment of the process plant, one or more values or other data generated by the control component or the control object during execution in the process plant operating environment for controlling the process is displayed on the executing display view via the associated graphical display Element presented and updated repeatedly. For example, the graphical element may be a graphic that displays or represents a particular control module, device, or other control component or object.

In addition, the definition of the display view typically includes corresponding definitions of various other graphical sections, elements or components (and / or combinations thereof) included in and / or otherwise associated with the display view, such as graphics, text, graphics properties, and / or texts (eg, color, contrast, animations, etc.), global variables, parameters, different areas of the display view, respective properties and / or contents of different areas of the display view, different positions of different graphics, texts and / or areas of the display view and / or certain operational data obtained from control modules, devices, and / or other control objects, and their links to respective graphics or other elements of the display view, to name but a few. Other graphical sections, elements and / or components that may be included and / or otherwise associated with the display view may include, for example, display view hierarchies, display view layouts, timers, embedded links, animation conversion functions, data references, project or factory standards, display themes, content languages, and / or indications thereof, application languages and / or indications thereof, tab views on the display views, tooltips and / or other contextual indications, trends and other representations of historicized parameters, monitoring or active monitoring areas, and / or other features, aspects, and / or functionalities; provided by the present graphical configuration and usage systems and methods described herein. Other graphical portions, elements, and / or components that may be included in and / or otherwise associated with the display view may include custom and / or standard graphic element modules (eg, as shown in FIG submitted on 31 August 2017 U.S. Patent Application No. 15 / 692,450 entitled " Derived and Linked Definitions with Override " and / or may include configurations for switching the operator display and / or associated objects (eg, as shown at 22 August 2016 submitted joint U.S. Patent Application No. 15,243,176 entitled "Operator Display Switching Preview".

In any event, such graphical portions, elements or components (and combinations thereof) included in or otherwise associated with a display view are generally referred to herein as "graphical display elements," "graphic elements," "graphical components," "display elements." , "Display Elements", "Display Elements" or "Display View Components". Typically, each display view element may be defined or configured by its own separate object, which object may be created, modified, stored, and published through the graphical configuration and application systems and methods described herein.

Some of the definitions of display elements may define mutually exclusive options, e.g. For example, the color scheme of the entire display view can be selectively changed by the operator between different defined color themes, or the language used on the display is selected by the operator Switched Arabic and French. Some of the definitions of display elements may not be mutually exclusive, e.g. For example, if the operator draws and stores graphics that indicate certain controls that the operator would like to actively (and simply) monitor, drag and drop into an active monitor window that is included in the display view.

With particular regard to a configuration or definition of the display view that defines a plurality of properties that are selectable in the operating environment in a mutually exclusive manner for application to a particular portion of the executing display view, the method includes receiving via the graphical user interface A display configuration application of an indication of a selection of a subset of a plurality of user interface devices (eg, operator workstations) included in the operating environment of the process plant and to which respective instances of the definition of the display view are to be downloaded for execution. The selected subset of the user interface devices may optionally include more than one user interface device. The method further includes downloading the definition of the display view (which may be a published definition) into each user interface device included in the selected subset of user interface devices for execution in the operating environment of the process plant, thereby enabling the respective portion of the executing display view selectively change in the mutually exclusive way between the variety of properties independently at each user interface device. Accordingly, each user interface device makes its respective change based solely on the content of the downloaded display view definition being executed on the user interface device and without communicating with another device included in the process plant configuration environment to perform the change or implement. Thus, a first operator may choose to "blink" for a particular property of a particular graphic contained in the display view at his workstation, while another operator may select for the particular feature of the particular graphic contained in the display view at his workstation. "No flashing" can choose. Both choices are fully supported and implemented solely by the currently downloaded definitions of the display view running on the workstations, without having to stop the execution of the display view on the workstations without having to download another display view configuration to the workstations, and without the display views and / or operator workstations receiving data or other information from the configuration environment to make the desired change.

It should be understood that while the disclosure herein relates to graphical display views and graphical display elements, this is for illustrative and simple discussion purposes only and is not intended to be limiting. In fact, any one or more of the aspects discussed herein may be easily limited to, e.g., graphical representation views. B. GEM classes (Graphical Element Module) are applied. Likewise, any one or more of the aspects discussed herein with respect to graphical display elements may be easily applied to GEMs, e.g. B. As is well known, GEMs are linked graphically configurable shapes that are reusable and that can be combined with other shapes and / or behaviors. Typically, GEMs provide one or more visual representations or views of a configurable form, and the definition or configuration of a GEM is stored separately from definitions or configurations of the use / instances of that GEM in certain display views and other objects (eg, for sharing the GEM definition / configuration). Thus, the graphical configuration systems and methods described herein, as well as one or more aspects thereof, can be readily applied to GEMs and GEM classes.

list of figures

• 1A FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a distributed process control network within a process plant incorporating the graphical configuration and usage systems and methods of the present disclosure; FIG.
• 1B FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary user interface device incorporated in FIG 1A is shown schematically;
• 2A FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an exemplary implementation of a graphical display configuration and application system in a configuration environment and operating environment of a process plant such as the process plant of FIG 1A ;
• 2 B FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an exemplary implementation of the graphical configuration library useful in the graphical configuration and use of the system of FIG 2A is included;
• 2C provides a block diagram of an exemplary snapshot at the time of ongoing configuration of a display view using the graphical configuration and application system of 2A group;
• 3A Figure 3 is an exemplary view of a graphic display configuration application for defining graphics and an exemplary view of an operator application for displaying the graphics in accordance with the definitions of the graphical display configuration application;
• 3B Figure 5 is an exemplary detail view of a graphical display configuration application for defining graphics;
• 4 Figure 12 illustrates an example of the configuration and preview of a hierarchy of display views that may be provided by a graphical display configuration application;
• 5A-5B illustrate an example of previewing graphical elements in the configuration of graphical display and display view elements with a graphical display configuration application;
• 5C Figure 12 illustrates an example of bulk processing in the configuration of graphical display and display view elements with a graphic display configuration application;
• 5D illustrates examples of additional functions that may be provided by a graphical display configuration application and used in the configuration of the graphical display view and the display view elements;
• The 5E and 5F illustrate an example of displaying or displaying user interactions that have been and / or will be configured in a graphical display view and in display view items while using an application to configure a graphical display;
• 5G illustrates an example of the configuration of timers in graphical display and display view elements using a graphical display configuration application;
• 6A-6B illustrate an embodiment of display elements of the animation conversion function that may be provided by a graphical display configuration application;
• 7 illustrates an example of the configuration of embedded link display display elements that may be provided by a graphical display configuration application;
• 8th FIG. 12 illustrates an embodiment of a tab display view element that may be provided by a graphical display configuration application; FIG.
• 9A FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary view of a portion of a graphical display configuration application for generating a contextual display for a display viewing element in response to user inputs to the display viewing element; FIG.
• 9B is an exemplary contextual display view that is responsive to user input to the display element in FIG 9A is pictured; and
• 10 FIG. 10 is a flowchart of an exemplary method for configuring a display view for execution in a process environment of a process plant.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

1A Figure 12 is a block diagram of an exemplary process control network or system 2 that in a process control system or a process plant 10 with and / or in the embodiments of the novel graphical display configuration and application system described herein. The process control network or system 2 can be a network backbone 5 which allows a direct or indirect connection between a variety of other devices. The with the network backbone 5 coupled devices in various embodiments include combinations of one or more access points 7a , one or more gateways 7b to other process plants (eg via an intranet or a company-wide wide area network), one or more gateways 7c to external systems (eg, the Internet), one or more stationary user interface (UI) devices 8th (eg, a traditional operator workstation) or mobile computing devices (eg, a smartphone for mobile devices), one or more servers 12 (eg, which may be implemented as a server bank, cloud computer system, or other suitable configuration), controllers 11 Input / output (I / O) cards 26 and 28, wired field devices 15 - 22 , wireless gateways 35 and wireless communication networks 70 , The communication networks 70 can wireless devices 40 -58 involve the wireless field devices 40 - 46 , wireless adapters 52a and 52b , Access points 55a and 55b and a router 58 include. The radio adapters 52a and 52b can connect to the wireless field devices 48 and 50 be connected. The control 11 can be a processor 30 , a store 32 and one or more control routines 38 include. Even though 1A represents only one of the devices that directly and / or communicative with the network backbone 5 It is assumed that each of the devices has multiple instances on the network backbone 5 could have and that the process plant 10 actually multiple network backbones 5 may include.

The UI devices 8th can over the network backbone 5 communicative with the controller 11 and the wireless gateway 35 get connected. The control 11 can via the input / output (I / O) cards 26 and 28 communicatively with the wired field devices 15 - 22 be connected and over the network backbone 5 and a wireless gateway 35 with the wireless field devices 40 - 46 communicatively connected. The control 11 can be operated to perform a batch process or a continuous process with at least some of the field devices 15 - 22 and 40 - 50 implemented. The control 11 which, for example, can be the DeltaV ™ controller sold by Emerson, is communicative with the backbone 5 connected to the process control system. The control 11 can also be communicative with the field devices 15 - 22 and 40 - 50 can be connected via any hardware and software, for example with standard 4-20 mA devices, I / O boards 26, 28 and / or any Smart Communication protocol such as the FOUNDATION® Fieldbus protocol, the HART® protocol , the Wireless HART® protocol, etc. is connected. In the in 1A illustrated embodiment, the controller 11 , the field devices 15 - 22 . 48 . 50 and the I / O cards 26 . 28 wired devices and the field devices 40 - 46 wireless field devices.

In operation of the UI device 8th can the UI device 8th In some embodiments, execute a user interface ("UI") such that the UI device 8th Accept inputs via an input interface and output to a display. The UI device 8th may retrieve data (eg, process related data such as process parameters, log data, sensor data, and / or any other data that can be captured and stored) from the server 12 receive. In other embodiments, the user interface may be entirely or partially on the server 12 running, the server 12 Display data to the user interface 8th can transfer. The UI device 8th can contain UI data (which may include display data and process parameter data) through the backbone 5 from other nodes in the process control network or system 2 receive, such as the controller 11 , the wireless gateway 35 and / or the server 12 , Based on the on the UI device 8th received UI data represents the UI device 8th an output (ie visual representations or graphics, some of which may be updated at runtime) providing the aspects of the process associated with the process control network or system 2 and allows the user to monitor the process. The user can also influence the control of the process by making inputs to the UI device 8th provides. By way of illustration, the UI device 8th Provide graphics that represent, for example, a tank filling process. In such a scenario, the user can read a tank level measurement and decide that the tank needs to be filled. The user can use one on the operator panel 8th displayed inlet graph interact and enter a command that causes the opening of the inlet valve.

In certain embodiments, the user interface device 8th implement any type of client, such as a thin client, web client, or thick client. For example, the user interface device 8th from other nodes, computers, UI devices, or servers for most of the UI device operation 8th required processing, as may be the case when the user interface device is limited in terms of memory, battery power, etc. (eg in a portable device). In such an example, the UI device may 8th with the server 12 or communicate with another UI device, the server 12 or another UI device with one or more other nodes (eg, servers) in the process control network or system 2 can communicate and determine the display data and / or process data sent to the UI device 8th to be transferred. In addition, the user interface device 8th all data related to received user input to the server 12 pass, so the server 12 the data related to user input can process and work accordingly. In other words, the UI device 8th can do little more than render graphics and act as a portal to one or more nodes or servers that store the data and operate the UI device 8th execute necessary routines. A thin client UI device has the advantage of minimal hardware requirements for the UI device 8th ,

In other embodiments, the UI device may 8th be a web client. In such an embodiment, a user of the UI device may 8th via a browser on the UI device 8th interact with the process control system. The browser allows the user to go beyond the backbone 5 on data and resources at another node or server 12 (eg the server 12 ). For example, the browser can retrieve UI data, such as display data or process parameter data, from the server 12 receive, so that the browser graphics for controlling and / or monitoring of a part or of the whole process. The browser can also receive user input (eg, a mouse click on a graphic). The user input may cause the browser to be on the server 12 retrieves or accesses the stored information resource. For example, the browser can retrieve information about the clicked graphic (from the server 12 ) and display.

In still other embodiments, most of the processing may be for the UI device 8th on the UI device 8th respectively. For example, the UI device 8th execute the previously discussed UI. The UI device 8th can also store, access and analyze data locally.

In operation, a user can use the user interface 8th interact with one or more devices in the process control network or system 2 to monitor or control, such as one of the field devices 15 - 22 or the devices 40 - 50 , The user can use the UI device 8th interact, for example, to change or modify a parameter that is one in the controller 11 stored control routine is assigned. The processor 30 the controller 11 implements or monitors one or more process control routines (stored in a memory 32 ), which may include control circuits. The processor 30 can with the field devices 15 - 22 and 40 - 50 and communicate with other nodes that are communicatively connected to the backbone 5 are connected. It should be noted that all of the control routines or modules described herein (including quality prediction and error detection modules or functional blocks) may be implemented or executed at the request of various controllers or other devices. Similarly, the control routines or modules described herein that are to be implemented within the process control system may take any form, including software, firmware, hardware, etc. Control routines may be implemented in any software format, e.g. By object-oriented programming, ladder logic, sequential function diagrams, functional block diagrams, or by using another software programming language or design paradigm. In particular, the control routines may be provided by a user via the UI device 8th be defined and implemented. The control routines can be stored in any type of memory, such as memory. Random access memory (RAM) or read-only memory (ROM) of the controller 11 , Likewise, the control routines may include, for example, one or more EPROMs, EEPROMs, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or other hardware or firmware elements of the controller 11 be firmly programmed. Thus, the controller 11 (from a user who has a UI device 8th used in certain embodiments) may be configured to arbitrarily implement (e.g., receive, store, and / or execute) a control strategy or routine.

In some embodiments, the UI device 8th a user can use the UI device 8th interact to create a control strategy at the controller 11 using so-called function blocks to define and implement, each function block being an object or another part (eg a subroutine) of an overall control routine and working in conjunction with other function blocks (via links) to process loops within the Implement the process control system. Control-based functional blocks typically perform one of an input function associated with a transmitter, sensor, or other process parameter measuring device; a control function associated with a control routine that performs PID, fuzzy logic, etc., control; or an output function that controls the operation of a device, such as a valve, to perform a physical function within the process control system. Of course, there are hybrid and other types of function blocks. The functional blocks may have graphical representations attached to the UI device 8th so that a user can easily change the type of function blocks, the connections between the function blocks, and the inputs / outputs associated with each of the function blocks implemented in the process control system. Function blocks can be on the controller 11 downloaded, saved and executed, which is typically the case when these function blocks for standard devices 4 -20 mA and some types of intelligent field devices such as HART devices are used or connected to them, or they can be stored and implemented in the field devices themselves, which may be the case with fieldbus devices. The control 11 can have one or more control routines 38 include that can implement one or more control loops. Each control loop is typically referred to as a control module and may be executed by executing one or more functional blocks.

With reference to 1A communicate the wireless field devices 40 - 46 in a wireless network 70 over a wireless protocol, such as the Wireless HART protocol. In certain embodiments, the UI device may 8th to be able to with the wireless field devices 40 - 46 over the wireless network 70 to communicate. Such wireless field devices 40 - 46 can communicate directly with one or more other nodes of the process control network or Systems 2 communicate, which are also configured for wireless communication (eg via the wireless protocol). To communicate with one or more other nodes that are not configured for wireless communication, the wireless field devices 40 - 46 one with the backbone 5 connected wireless gateway 35 use. Of course, the field devices could 15 - 22 and 40 - 46 comply with all other desired standards or protocols, such as all wired or wireless protocols, including any standards or protocols developed in the future.

The wireless gateway 35 can access various wireless devices or nodes 40 - 46 . 52 - 58 a wireless communication network 70 enable. In particular, the wireless gateway provides 35 a communicative coupling between the wireless devices 40 - 46 . 52 - 58 and other nodes of the process control network or system 2 (including the controller 11 from 1A) , The wireless gateway 35 provides in some cases a communicative coupling by the routing, buffering, and timing services to lower layers of the wired and wireless protocol stacks (e.g., address translation, routing, packet segmentation, prioritization, etc.) while one or more layers of the layer wired and wireless protocol stacks in an exemplary implementation. In other cases, the wireless gateway 35 Translate commands between wired and wireless protocols that do not share protocol layers.

Similar to the wired field devices 15 - 22 can the wireless field devices 40 - 46 of the wireless network 70 physical control functions within the process plant 10 take over, for. For example, opening or closing valves or measuring process parameters. The wireless field devices 40 - 46 however, they are configured to communicate over the wireless protocol of the network 70 communicate. Thus, the wireless field devices 40 - 46 , the wireless gateway 35 and other wireless nodes 52 - 58 of the wireless network 70 Manufacturers and consumers of wireless communication packages.

In some scenarios, the wireless network may 70 non-wireless devices 48 . 50 which may be wired devices. For example, a field device 48 out 1A an older 4-20 mA device and a field device 50 a conventional wired HART device. For communication within the network 70 can the field devices 48 and 50 via a corresponding radio adapter (WA) 52a . 52b with the wireless communication network 70 get connected. In addition, the wireless adapter 52a . 52b support other communication protocols such as Foundation® Fieldbus, PROFIBUS, DeviceNet, etc. In addition, the wireless network can 70 one or more network access points 55a . 55b include the separate physical devices in wireline communication with the wireless gateway 35 or with the wireless gateway 35 can be provided as an integrated device. The wireless network 70 can also have one or more routers 58 include packets from one wireless device to another wireless device within the wireless communication network 70 forward. The wireless devices 40 - 46 and 52 - 58 can communicate with each other and with the wireless gateway 35 over wireless connections 60 of the wireless communication network 70 communicate.

In certain embodiments, the process control network or system 2 others with the network backbone 5 include connected nodes that communicate over other wireless protocols. For example, the process control network or system 2 may have one or more wireless access points 7a include other wireless protocols such as WiFi or other IEEE 802.11 compliant wireless local area network protocols, mobile communication protocols such as WiMAX (World Wide Interoperability for Microwave Access), LTE (Long Term Evolution) or other ITU-R (International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector) compatible protocols Use short-wave radio communications such as Near Field Communications (NFC) and Bluetooth and / or other wireless communication protocols. Typically, such wireless access points allow 7a There are handheld or other portable computing devices to communicate over a corresponding wireless network that is different from the wireless network 70 different and supports a different wireless protocol than the wireless network 70 , In some embodiments, the UI device communicates 8th via the process control network or system 2 using a wireless access point 7a , In some scenarios, in addition to portable computing devices, one or more process control devices (eg, controller 11 , Field devices 15 - 22 or wireless devices 35 . 40 - 46 . 52 - 58 ) about that from the access points 7a supported wireless network communicate.

Additionally or alternatively, the process control network or system 2 one or more gateways 7b . 7c to systems that are outside the immediate process control system. In such embodiments, the UI device may 8th to control, monitor or otherwise communicate with the external systems be used. Typically, such systems are customers and / or suppliers of information generated or operated by the process control system. For example, a plant gateway node 7b the immediate process plant 10 (with its own, respective process control data network backbone 5 ) connect communicatively with another process plant with its own, respective network backbone. In one embodiment, a single network backbone 5 Serve multiple process plants or process control environments.

In another example, the plant gateway node 7b connect the instant process plant communicatively with an older or state-of-the-art process plant that is not a process control network or system 2 or backbone 5 includes. In this example, the attachment gateway node 7b Messages between a protocol used by the process control Big Data Backbone 5 the plant 10 is used and any other protocol used by the legacy system (eg, Ethernet, Profibus, Fieldbus, DeviceNet, etc.), convert or translate. In such an example, the user interface device 8th used to control, monitor, or otherwise communicate with systems or networks in the old or state-of-the-art process plant.

The process control network or system 2 may include one or more external system gateway nodes 7c to connect the process control network or system 2 communicatively to the network of an external public or private system, such as a laboratory system (eg, Laboratory Information Management System or LIMS), a recruiting database, a material flow system, a maintenance management system Product inventory system, a production planning system, a weather data system, a shipping and handling system, a packaging system, the Internet, the process control system of another supplier and / or other external systems. The gateway nodes 7c For example, the external system may facilitate communication between the process control system and people outside the process plant (eg, people at home).

Even though 1A a single control 11 with a finite number of field devices 15 - 22 . 40 - 46 and 48 - 50 This is only an illustrative and non-limiting embodiment. Any number of controls 11 can be in the process control network or the system 2 be involved, and each of the controls 11 can work with any number of wired or wireless field devices 15 - 22 . 40 - 50 communicate to a process in the plant 10 to control. In addition, the process plant 10 also any number of wireless gateways 35 , Routers 58 , Access points 55 , wireless communication networks 70 , Access points 7a and / or gateways 7b . 7c include.

1B Figure 12 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary UI device 8th , which may be used in conjunction with embodiments of the novel graphical display configuration and application system described herein. The user interface device 8th may be a desktop computer such as a conventional operator workstation, a control room display or a mobile computing device such as a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a smartphone for mobile devices, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable computing device, or other suitable client device. Be computer device. The user interface device 8th can run a graphical display configuration application used by a configuration engineer in the configuration environment to create, generate and / or edit various definitions or configurations of display views, and to create, generate, and / or create various definitions or configurations of display elements or configurations; and / or edit. The user interface 8th may also perform an operator application that is used by an operator to monitor, observe, and respond to various conditions and conditions of the process within the operating environment. The UI device 8th can an ad 72 include. Furthermore, the UI device includes 8th one or more processors or CPUs 75 , a store 78 , a random access memory (RAM) 80 , an input / output circuit (I / O) 82 and a communication unit 85 for transmitting and receiving data via a local area network, a wide area network and / or any other suitable network that may be wired and / or wireless. The UI device 8th can with the controls 11 , the server 12 and / or any other suitable computing device.

The memory 78 can be an operating system 88 , Applications running on the operating system 88 such as the graphical display configuration application and the operator application, and a control unit 90 to control the ad 72 and for communication with the controllers 11 to control the online operation of the process plant. In some embodiments, the server may 12 a graphical representation of part of the process plant to the UI device 8th transferred, and in turn, the control unit 90 cause the graphical representation of the part of the Process plant on the display 72 is pictured. In addition, the control unit 90 User input from the I / O circuit 82 obtained, such. B. user input from the operator or configuration engineer (hereafter also referred to as user) and translate the user input into a request to display a graphical display view in a particular language, a request to include graphics that point to certain controls in an active monitor or watch window included in the display view, a request to display an adjustment to a process parameter contained in one of the process sections, etc.

In some embodiments, the control unit may 90 the translated user input to the server 12 which generate the requested user interface and to the user interface device 8th can transmit to the display. In other embodiments, the control unit 90 generate the new UI based on the translated user input and the new UI on the display 72 the user interface 8th represent. If the translated user input is a request to indicate an adaptation to a process parameter contained in one of the process sections, the control unit may 90 the process parameter value on the display 72 according to the user input of the operator and the controls 11 Provide instructions for setting the process parameter in the process plant. In other embodiments, the control unit 90 the translated user input to the server 12 which generate the set process parameter value and to the UI device 8th can transmit to the display, and the controls 11 Provide instructions for setting the process parameter in the process plant.

2A FIG. 12 illustrates a high level block diagram illustrating one possible way of implementing embodiments and / or aspects of the graphical display configuration and application system described herein 100 in a configuration environment 102 and a business or operating environment 105 a process plant or a process control system, eg. B. the process plant 10 from 1A , illustrated. The configuration environment 102 of the process control system is herein synonymous as an "offline" environment 102 or the "backend" environment 102 of the process control system, and the operating environment 105 The process control system is referred to herein synonymously as the "operation,""online,""frontend," or "field" environment 105 of the process control system.

As in 2A shown, includes the configuration environment 102 a graphical display configuration application 110 , which includes a user interface through which a configurator or user can display different view definitions or configurations 112 create, generate, and / or edit as well as various display view element definitions or configurations 115 create, generate and / or edit. For example, the graphical display configuration application 110 on an instance of the user device 8th from 1A and / or 1B. Any configuration of the display views 112 and any configuration of the display elements 115 can for example be implemented as a corresponding object. In general, a display view definition 112 be configured to have one or more display element definitions (among other components) 115 take. Typically, a display view definition 112 configured to include at least one display element (eg, a graphical element) associated with a particular control module, device, or type of control object such that in the operating environment 105 the runtime data associated with the respective control module, device or control object via the associated display element (s) on the executing display view, e.g. B. can be displayed continuously or repeatedly updated. The respective control module, device, or control object is typically in a control configuration database 118 (for example, its configuration will be in the control configuration database 118 stored) and may be within the display view definition 112 for example, be represented by a particular control tag or other suitable indication. As in 2A shown, are the view-related definitions or configurations 112 . 115 in a central graphical configuration database or library 120 saved, so that the graphical plant-related configurations 112 . 115 to download and run in the operating environment 105 are available, allowing operators or users different states and conditions of the process within the operating environment 105 monitor, observe and respond to. It should be noted that although the graphical configuration database 120 and the control configuration database 118 in 2A as separate databases within the configuration environment 102 of the process control system 10 however, in some implementations, at least parts or all of the configuration databases are shown 120 . 118 can be implemented integrally as a unified database or library.

In any case, in 2A a display view configuration 112 be defined to one or more control objects 118 to specify the one in the display view 112 contained display view elements 115 are assigned or bound to them, and then the definitions of the display view elements 115 and the respective control objects bound thereto 118 instantiated and one or more different operator stations or user interface devices 122 operating in the operating environment 105 the process plant 10 provided (eg for downloading). In one example, the user interface device or workstation 122 the shape of the user interface device 8th out 1B accept. The instantiated display view 112 connected to the user interface device 122 is executed communicates with the control module runtime environment 125 that may be executed in the process associated with controllers and field devices to access data or other information from the control module runtime environment 125 access or otherwise obtain, e.g. B. as by the bound control objects 118 the display view 112 Are defined. The user interface device 122 can with the control module runtime environment 125 communicate over any or pre-configured communication networks, such as the data highway 5 and / or the wireless communication networks 70 out 1A ,

In some embodiments, the user interface device uses 122 a download script parser 128 to at least part of the downloaded display view configuration 112 while performing their execution (for example, to perform a just-in-time object code conversion), although using the download script parser 128 through the user interface device 122 not required or required, eg. For example, if a downloaded display view configuration 112 contains no scripts.

In some embodiments, the user interface device uses 122 a rule-based execution engine 130 to process flow algorithms or other rule-based methods (such as from a process runtime environment) 132 provided) by the display elements 115 and / or the display object 112 be displayed or bound, for. B. if one or more of the display elements 115 is an intelligent process object. Generally, an intelligent process object is defined or configured to store data for storing data that is related to other units within the process plant 10 include and are received by, as well as inputs and outputs for communicating with other intelligent process objects and methods that may be executed on the stored and received data, e.g. B. to detect plant or equipment conditions. In some arrangements, intelligent process objects are communicatively coupled to create a process flow module that provides a display view to a plant unit and implements a set of rules for a plant unit, such as an area, device, element, module, module, etc ., and the process flow engine is run at runtime by the process runtime environment 132 executed, z. B. by using the execution machine 130 , It should be noted that the use of the execution machine 130 through the user interface device 122 not required or required, eg. For example, if a downloaded configuration of the display view 112 does not contain any intelligent process objects. It is further noted that other methods of integrating the display views and display view elements with runtime control objects other than those described herein in the operating environment 105 additionally or alternatively possible and of the graphical display configuration and application system 100 can be used. To simplify the discussion, an instantiated display view is displayed on a user interface device 122 the operating environment 105 executed or provided, generally as an operator or operational application 135 designated.

2 B FIG. 12 is a detailed block diagram of one embodiment of the graphical configuration library. FIG 120 into the graphical display configuration and application system 100 from 2A is integrated. As in 2 B displayed, stores the graphical configuration library 120 both display view definitions or configurations 112 as well as display view item definitions or configurations 115 , Any definition or configuration 112 . 115 may be associated with a published version and optionally one or more draft versions (which may also be interchangeably referred to herein as "work in progress" or "working" versions) contained in the library 120 are stored. As in 2 B View1 has two corresponding design configurations and a corresponding published configuration in the graphical configuration database 120 are stored. In addition, the graphical configuration database 120 as a memory for a design configuration and two published configurations for View2, a published configuration and no design configurations for View3 and m design configurations, and a published configuration for ViewN. In general, only published configurations or definitions from the graphical configuration library may 120 or elsewhere in the configuration environment 102 in the operating environment 105 be downloaded. Designs of configurations or definitions may, in some embodiments, be solely within the scope of the claims configuration environment 102 maintained, stored and edited. If drafts of configurations or definitions within the configuration environment 102 Stored will prevent the drafts in the operating environment 105 be downloaded. If a configuration engineer with a design of a display-related configuration or definition 112 . 115 is satisfied, it can be the indicator-relevant configuration or definition 112 . 115 explicitly publish (for example, change their state to "published") so that they are in the runtime process attachment 10 to download and run is available. In some embodiments, a single user control may implement both the publication and the later download of the publication. In other embodiments, a publish user control or command and a download user control or command are different and distinct user controls used by the configuration application 110 to be provided.

Thus, multiple configuration engineers are able to create, modify, and test graphical configurations and definitions (and in some situations simultaneously) without affecting the runtime operation of the subject configurations, such as: This is illustrated, for example, by the drafts of ViewN and the published configuration of ViewN. In addition, different versions of a same display view may be published and available for runtime operations, e.g. For example, if a similar display view is configured to have different combinations of operator corrections that are downloaded to different areas of the plant, e.g. For example, as the two publications of View2 illustrate. (Of course, the configurator can use the graphical display configuration system 100 In some embodiments, at least some of the published display views and the published display view items are available by default, ie, at least some published display views and published display view items become the default settings in the library 120 provided. Such standard views and elements may be used by the configuration engineers with the graphical display configuration application 110 can be edited or modified, and the modified views or items can be viewed as additional or alternative published versions of the default objects 112 . 115 to be published.

A particular configuration of the display view may e.g. From configurators or users via the graphical display configuration application 110 among other things, to include (e.g., reference, point or refer) one or more configurations of the display elements. Similarly, in some cases, a particular configuration of display view elements may be defined that includes (eg, reference, referenced, or referenced) one or more other display view elements. Significantly, various display-related configurations or definitions (of both display views and display elements) may each define a set of user-definable adjustments that are provided to the operator to change the appearance of the corresponding display view or display element at run-time as desired; without having to create and / or download a revised configuration and without having to obtain additional configuration data indicating the change from another computing device without the display view, display element or user interface device on which the display view is being executed (eg. from a computer device or database operating in the configuration environment 102 is included, or from a computer device or database operating in the operating environment 102 is included and stores configuration data or copies thereof locally). Additionally, in some embodiments, the particular configuration of the display view may include one or more global variables or scripts in addition to the other display view elements referenced therein.

To illustrate shows 2C a snapshot of an exemplary display view 150 used by a user on one of the graphical display configuration application 110 configured canvas is configured. At this point during the configuration, the display view became 150 defined so that they have multiple display elements 152a - 168a includes. In particular, the display view includes 150 a stepped display element 152a with four tabs 152a - 1 . 152a - 2 . 152a - 3 and 152a - 4 , and the tab 152a - 1 includes a graphic of a tank 155a with an inlet flow connection 158a and an exit flow connection 160a , Additionally includes the tank graphic 155a a fill animation 162a , which shows the level in the tank. The presentation of the display view 150 can be at least partially influenced by one or more controls contained thereon, z. B. a voice user control 165a and a topic user control 168a by an operator to adapt to his workplace or user interface 8th can be manipulated. Additionally or alternatively, one or more similar controls 165a . 168a at work or at the user interface 8th about the operator application 135 be provided, which the view One 150 at work 8th executes (not in 2C shown).

The configuration of the exemplary display view 150 will appear in a corresponding display view object 172a captured or defined in 2C a design, a work, or a configuration object being edited 172a (or otherwise not published). Likewise, the configuration of each of the display elements becomes 152a - 168a in one or more respective display element objects 152b - 170b captured or defined (each of which belongs to the 2C illustrated time individually or as a whole with the display view 150 can be published or not). For example, the tabs 152a - 1 . 152a - 2 . 152a - 3 and 152a - 4 by a graphical tab display element 152a defines itself by an instance of the Register object 152b where each register object instance has been specifically configured, for example, to have a different text string on its respective tabs 152a - 1 . 152a - 2 . 152a - 3 and 152a - 4 and to include other display features and characteristics (not shown). In some embodiments, each tab 152a - 1 . 152a - 2 . 152a - 3 and 152a - 4 be configured to change their appearance (eg, indicators, background color, text color, animations, etc.) in response to live data, and thereby with one or more controls within the operating environment 105 the process plant 10 get connected. The tank graphic 155a is by an instance of the tank object 155b and the tank object instance has been specifically configured to be associated with a particular control tag LT123. Additionally, the fill animation became 162a by an instance of the fill animation object 162b defines that the fill animation is a bottom-up fill. Furthermore, the color of the fill animation 162a by an instance of a fill color object 170b defined by the operator between the colors blue, red, white and green. For example, the fill color may be individually selectable or selected by the operator by selecting a particular theme defining the fill color.

In addition, as in 2C represented, configurations of graphical object instances with other graphical objects and / or object instances are defined. For example, the instance of the Register object 152b that the tab 152a - 1 defined, defined to be the instance of the tank graphic object 155b that includes the tank graphic 155a (including, but not limited to, the indication of tax day LT123 contained therein). The same is the instance of the tank graphic object 155b that the tank graphic 155a Defines, itself defined, the instance of the Fill Animation object 162b for the fill animation 162a including the instance of the fill animation object 162b In this example, it was specifically configured as a fill animation from bottom to top. Nevertheless, the instance of the fill animation object is 162b that the fill animation 162a defines, itself defined, an instance of the fill color object 170b It defines therein a selection of operator-selectable fill colors (eg, blue, red, white, and green) and additionally defines the mutually exclusive selection and application thereof.

In general, a first graphical element object may be defined or configured to refer to a second graphical element object (eg, point up, reference, etc.), where the configuration of the second graphical element object is the manifestations and / or behavior of the first defined in graphical element object. In some embodiments, the configuration or definition of the object of the first graphical element may additionally include one or more object property values and / or scripts, if desired. The first graphical element object and the second graphic element object are independent and separate objects. That is, the first graphical element object and the second graphical element object are not included in the same object class, are not derived from each other, are not connected by parent-child object relations, etc. In fact, the second graphical element object can be referenced by another graphical element object and configured accordingly to thereby define the look and / or behavior of the other graphical element object.

In some scenarios, the second graphical element object itself may refer to a third graphical element object, where the configuration of the third graphical element object defines the appearances and / or behaviors of the second graphical element object. If desired, the configuration of the object of the second graphical element may additionally include one or more values of object properties and / or scripts.

In any case, the instance of the display view object 172a that the view 150 defined to be configured to one or more user controls 165a . 168a to indicate it when you go to 2C returns. (As already mentioned, in some embodiments, one or more of the controls may 165a . 168a from the server application 135 provided that the configured display view object 172a at the user interface device 8th within the operating environment 105 that executes in 2C not shown.) In any case, any of the user controls 165a . 168a . 168a , at least partially through their respective object 165b . 168b be defined, regardless of whether they are through the display object 172a and / or by the operator application 135 provided. In particular, as in 2C illustrates the voice user control 165a by an instance of the multilingual object 165b which in this example was configured to display text in either English, Arabic, or French. This allows an operator to control voice user control during runtime 165a manipulate the language in the display view 150 appears to change selectively to / from English, Arabic or French. Likewise, the themes user control 168a by an instance of the topic object 168b Defines the instance of the topics 168b In this example, the operator has defined the design of the display view during runtime 150 between Thema1 . Topic2 and Thema3 can change selectively. So an operator can during the run the topic user control 168a on the server application 135 manipulate that in the display view 150 displayed topic between Thema1 . Topic2 and Thema3 to change. Each of the languages and topics can be found elsewhere in the graphical configuration database 120 be defined, for. In the manner described elsewhere in this disclosure.

Furthermore, the display view 150 in various other display elements 115 be involved. For example, a particular layout1 (for example, that can be configured as a specific instance of a layout object) can be defined as the display view 150 in a first area, e.g. B. by linking the configuration 172a the display view 150 with the graphical object that defines the first area of Layout1. Another particular layout2 (for example, that may be configured as another particular instance of the layout object) may be defined to be the display view 150 in a second area, e.g. By linking the display view configuration 170 with the graphical object that defines the second area of Layout2. In an additional or alternative implementation, the instance of the display view object may be 172a refer to one or more layouts (such as those that can be configured as specific instances of layout objects) that make up the viewview 150 include. Each of the layouts that display the view 150 may be specially configured to assist the operator in displaying the display view 150 be presented during execution in the runtime environment or not. In other words, while running in the runtime environment, the operator application may 135 the display view 150 according to one of the layouts based on the configuration of the display object 172a represent. An additional explanation of the layouts used with the graphical display configuration system 100 can be provided elsewhere in this disclosure. Likewise, the display view 150 linked or otherwise associated with different display hierarchies, and additional discussion about the display hierarchies provided by the graphical display configuration system 100 is also provided elsewhere in this disclosure.

In order to 2C return if the configuration engineer with the display view object 172a content, content, appearance and behavior of the display view 150 in the runtime environment 105 The configuration engineer can define the display view object as it is defined in 2C is represented by the reference 172b publish.

In an embodiment in which objects of display view elements can be individually published, after publication of the display view object 172b all ad view item objects 152b - 170b which are not yet published, will be automatically published, and / or the user may be prompted to manually publish display view item objects that are still in the draft or in progress. That is, in such an embodiment, all display element objects contained therein or associated therewith must also be in a published state, hence a display view object 172a can be published.

In a further embodiment, in which the objects of the display elements are not individually publishable, after the publication of the display object 172b the published configuration 172b the display view 150 in the graphical configuration database 120 saved, resulting in the published configuration 172b for download in the operating environment 105 the process plant 10 is available, as in 2C shown. In some embodiments, upon publication of the display object 172 the published configuration 172b automatically into the operating environment 105 downloaded.

The published configuration of the display object 172b can be downloaded for execution on one or more user interface devices operating in the operating environment 105 are included as in 2C represented by user interface devices UI-1, UI-2, UI-3. For example, each of the user interface devices UI-1, UI-2, UI-3 may take the form of the user interface device 8th or the user interface device 122 and the particular set of user interface devices to which the Configuration of the published display view 172b can be downloaded (and executed) by a user, e.g. Through the graphical display configuration application 110 or via another user interface of the configuration environment 120 , Thus, any downloaded instance of the published display view configuration 172b independently in the runtime environment 105 on their respective host user interface device UI-1, UI-2, UI-3.

Importantly, the published display view configuration 172b when executed on its host device UI-1, UI-2, UI-3, it allows operators or users to customize the look and feel of a particular executing display view 150 within the runtime environment 105 and customize it to your liking, regardless of the runtime customization of other users. As in 2C The UI-1 user at UI-1 has the color of the fill animation 162a the tank graphic 155 on the display view 150 changed to blue, that selected on the display view 150 displayed text is displayed in French, and chosen that the display view 150 With theme3 is pictured. For UI-2, the user has the color of the fill animation 162a changed to white, selected the text to be presented in Arabic and that Thema1 selected. At UI-3, the user has the color of the fill animation 162a changed to red, selected the text to be presented in English, and theme2 selected. User selections and customizations implemented on user interface devices UI-1, UI-2 and UI-3 are made using only the published display view configurations 172b which are executed on the host devices UI-1, UI-2 and UI-3. That is, to make the changes desired by the operator, no UI-1, UI-2 or UI-3 needs to obtain additional configuration data from the configuration environment or from another computing device. In addition, to implement the changes desired by the operator, it is not necessary to have an updated display view configuration 150 download and execute. Rather, each operator simply sets the desired changes according to the runtime execution of the display view 150 at its respective user interface UI-1, UI-2, UI-3 um, z. Without the display view 150 to stop and restart. For example, if the user of UI-I subsequently retrieves the displayed topic from theme3 on theme2 the user can do this by simply selecting the one at the UI 1 Running Theme User Control 168a (which, as explained above, from the operator application 135 or from the Display view 150 can be provided), and in response, the executing display view 150 implement the change, eg. Without one in the configuration environment 102 contained computing device and / or with another computing device based on configuration data 120 or copies of it, to communicate.

Of course that should be in 2C Illustrated example scenario is illustrative, but not limiting and is just one of many possible usage scenarios of the graphical presentation and application system 100 , In fact, the graphical display configuration and application system provides 100 as shown in this disclosure, a configuration environment 102 which is flexible, intuitive, and easy to maintain while providing an operational experience that supports independent online customization of display views and / or the display elements contained therein. The various features and aspects (either individually or in combination) of the graphical display configuration and application system 100 which offer these and other advantages are described in more detail below.

Show navigation hierarchy

To now to 3A Examples of types of display view elements provided by the graphical display configuration and application systems and methods described herein are a hierarchical display element and a layout display view element. As mentioned earlier, the graphical display configuration application includes 110 in the configuration environment 102 graphical user controls for defining hierarchies and layouts so that a configuration engineer can graphically define the hierarchy and layout. Each display view can consist of elements of the display view that define the display view. For example, a "main tank" view may include several elements of the display view, each representing a different tank. A display view item in a display view may also be the subject of another display view with a higher level of detail with its own display view elements. In this way, a plant operator can navigate from a display view, which presents a general overview of the least detailed process plant, to a display view that presents a single alarm or device within the process plant with one of the highest levels of detail.

In some embodiments, a display view represents a portion of a process plant, and the display elements include graphical representations of process plant units, such as tanks, mixers, valves, pumps, and / or other suitable equipment within a process plant. The display view elements may also include graphical representations of process plant connectors that connect one device to another, such as a display device. As pipes, electrical cables, conveyor belts, etc.

In some embodiments, the configuration engineer may define the alarms, trends, and / or process parameter values within a display view with a particular level of detail. In further embodiments, the configuration engineer may set the number of alarms, trends, and / or process parameter values within the display view at a particular level of detail. The graphical display configuration application 110 or the one on the user interface 122 executed operator or operating application 135 can then automatically determine which alarms, trends, and / or process parameter values are to be included in the display view based on priority levels for the respective alarms, trends, and / or process parameter values. For example, the configuration engineer may specify that five process parameter values be displayed at specific locations in the display view. Each of the process parameter values corresponding to the display view may be ordered by priority level and the five most important process parameter values may be displayed in the display view. The priority levels may be set by the configuration engineer, the operator or automatically based on a set of rules, e.g. For example, if a particular process parameter value triggers an alarm.

To create a hierarchy of display views for navigation from a display view, which is a general overview of the process plant, to display views that represent sections of the process plant in greater detail, contains the graphical display configuration application 110 graphical user controls for defining relationships or links between display views. The graphical display configuration application 110 can represent a UI or part of it to create the hierarchy. The hierarchy UI may contain references to each of the display views defined in the configuration environment. The configuration engineer can then drag and drop the display views (or other suitable graphical user control) into a hierarchy area to define the relationships or links between the display views. By dragging and dropping an indication of a "Tank 1" view (eg, of the name "Tank 1", a symbol, etc.) onto a display of a "main tank" view, the graphical display configuration application may 110 for example, determine that tank 1 a lower level view with a higher level of detail than the "Main Tanks" display view. In another example, the graphical display configuration application 110 by dragging and dropping an indication of a "tank load" view above or below the "main tank" view within the hierarchy area, determine that the "tank loading" and "main tanks" display views are within the hierarchy are the same level of detail.

View hierarchies can also be created for trend displays that represent historized process parameter values. For example, a process parameter such as flow through a valve may depend on one or more input or output process parameters, such as an inlet pressure at the valve and an outlet pressure at the valve. A trend indicator of the level 1 can represent the flow rates through the valve over time, while a trend display the level 2 the trend display of the level 1 can represent the inlet and outlet pressures on the valve over time. The configuration engineer can change the hierarchy of the trend view view in the configuration environment 102 and an operator can switch between the resulting trend view views and subviews (eg, via navigation buttons) within the operating environment 105 Change with increasing or decreasing level of detail.

In some embodiments, a hierarchy of the display view may be similar to a tree view in which a display view with the lowest level of detail (e.g., level 1 ) is the root node of the tree structure. Display views at the second lowest level of detail (for example Level 2 ) may be subnodes with respect to the root node and their own subnodes in the third lowest level of detail (e.g., level 3 ), which can be grandchildren in relation to the root node. The configuration engineer can create multiple view hierarchies, each of which can correspond to different areas within a process plant or different process plants. In this way, each operator can see the hierarchy of the display views that represents the area for which he is responsible.

The graphical display configuration application 110 In addition to the definition of view hierarchies, it also contains graphical user controls for defining a layout. As used herein, a "layout" may indicate the manner in which a screen area of an operator workstation may be partitioned to display multiple views on one screen or a plurality of screens for the operator workstation. For example, one operator workstation may have multiple monitors or screens, and the layout may result in the operator workstation displaying a different display view on each of the screens so that the operator may view multiple display views simultaneously. In another example, an operator workstation may include a single monitor or screen, and the layout may cause the operator workstation to divide the screen into multiple areas (eg, frames, subregions, or sections) and a different display view in each area of the screen represents. The graphical display configuration application 110 may include graphical user controls for selecting the number of screens and display areas within each screen for a layout. For example, the configurator may generate a first layout with two screens, each screen being divided into two display areas. Subsequently, the configuration engineer for each of the divided display areas, such. Eg clock area, alarm list, historicized parameters, a front panel, hierarchy level (eg level 1 , Level 2 , Level 3 ), etc., define a display view type.

In addition, the layout may include relationships or links between the display areas within the layout. For example, a first display area within the layout may have display views of the hierarchy-level type 1 and a second display area within the layout. Hierarchy level display views 2 represent. The second display area can be configured to display views of the hierarchy level 2 display when the operator from the hierarchy level 1 navigated in the first display area. The display view for the second display area depends on the activity of the operator with respect to the first display area, and the first display area further presents hierarchical-level display views 1 , In another example, display areas within the layout representing alarm list or historicized parameter display views may be dependent on display areas within the layout representing control modules such that the alarm list or historicized parameter display views contain alarms or parameters displayed within the control modules ,

3A exemplifies the side-by-side view 300 of a graphical display configuration application UI 302 (for example, an instance of the graphical display configuration application 110 and an operator application UI 304 (for example, an instance of the operator application 135 at runtime as defined by the graphical display configuration application UI 302 represents. More specifically, the graphical display configuration application includes UI 302 a hierarchy area 310 , which displays the hierarchy of a series of display views. For example, the "Tanks overview" display view can be at level 1 the display hierarchy and the "tank-loading" and "main-tanks" display views at the level 2 are located. The display views "FeedHt X" and "FeedMixr" may be subviews of the display view "Ank Feed", and the display views "Tank1", "Tank2" and "Surge" may be subviews of the display view "Main". Tanks "on level 3 be. In addition, the display view "T2SOP" may be a bottom view of the display view "Tank 2" on the level 4 be. As noted above, a configuration engineer can define the hierarchy of the display views by dragging and dropping the displays of the display views into a hierarchy area 310 pull that from the graphical display configuration application 110 or presented using other suitable graphical user controls. Indications for new display views can also be defined in the hierarchy of the display views before the corresponding display views are created. The configuration engineer can define where the new display view is located within the hierarchy of the display view and then create the new display view.

The graphical display configuration application UI 302 represents next to the representation of the hierarchy area 310 a layout 312 This is an ad in four screens and four display areas 314a-d (hereinafter also interchangeably referred to as "display part areas" or "display sections"), and each display area 314a-d has a corresponding display view type. For example, the upper left display area 314a defined to the display views of the hierarchy level 1 display. The lower left and lower right corner display areas 314b-c are defined to be the display views of the hierarchy level 2 and 3 and the upper right corner display zone 314d is defined to represent the display views of the alarm list. The layout 312 also defines relationships or links between the display areas. For example, the lower left corner display area represents 314b automatically hierarchy level 2 display views when an operator from a hierarchy level 1 view to a hierarchy level 2-view display in the upper left corner display area 314a navigated. In another example, the upper right corner display area 314d automatically display alarm lists of alarms that appear in one or more of the display views in the other display areas 314a-c are included.

The user application UI 304 that includes the graphic Display configuration application 110 defined layout 312 , which is a display of an operator workstation in four screens and four display areas 318a-d divided. The upper left corner of the display area 318a shows the hierarchy level 1 the display views. The lower left and lower right corner display areas 318b-c present the display views of the hierarchy level 2 and 3 and the upper right corner display zone 318d represents the display views of the alarm list. The user application UI 304 may represent display views according to the hierarchy, layout, and / or other display view elements used by the graphical display configuration application 110 were defined.

The graphical display configuration application UI 302 also includes a management section 316 (which may, for example, refer to the management of the operating application / environment 304) for assigning hierarchies, layouts, and / or topics to a particular operator workstation or set of operator workstations. In this way, operator workstations for operators monitoring a portion of the process plant may represent hierarchies relating to that portion and may be restricted from accessing hierarchies that relate to other portions of the process plant. In some embodiments, a configuration engineer may be in the administrative section 316 Assign all hierarchies and layouts to each operator workstation and operators can select the layout and hierarchy to present on their respective operator workstations.

3B illustrates a home tab 350 the graphical display configuration application 110 for generating display views to be executed on an operator workstation. The Home tab 350 contains a new display button 352 to create a display view, a new layout button 354 to create a layout and a new display hierarchy button 356 to create a hierarchy of display views. The tab 350 also contains a configuration screen 366 to configure elements of the display view within a display view. The display view elements may be in a configuration mode upon selection of a configuration button (not shown) and / or in a preview mode upon selection of a preview button 364 are displayed. In an alternative embodiment, the design or work configuration of the display view elements may be on that of the configuration application 110 provided canvas (eg, standard or continuous) and it can only be a preview button 364 be displayed (eg as in 3B When enabled, preview the display view in another area or window of the configuration application 110 provided user interface is displayed. The preview mode or the separate display of the preview provides a preview of the display view as it would appear at run time so that a configuration engineer can see what the display and display elements will look like to the operator. For example, the elements of the display view can be displayed with themes, colors, etc. selected in configuration mode. The configuration engineer can toggle graphical user elements, such as navigation bars, tabs, etc., in preview mode in the display view, to see how the display view changes in response to user interactions.

To create a display view, the Home tab is included 350 graphical controls for selecting display elements, such as a button 360 for basic display elements that contain shapes such as rectangles, squares, circles, etc., arrows, connectors, text boxes, charts, or other suitable basic display elements. A selection window or a palette 370 for display elements can also be used to select display elements such as faceplate elements, tab elements, bar graph elements, data elements, data elements, data connection elements, writing elements, buttons, sliders, alarm elements, alarm detail elements, function block elements, navigation bar elements, GEM elements (eg as in the joint application submitted on 31 August 2017 U.S. Patent Application No. 15 / 692,450 entitled "Derived and Linked Boundary Definitions", the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference), or any other suitable display elements. The configuration engineer can customize the display elements by dragging and dropping the display elements into the configuration canvas 366 or by using other appropriate graphical controls. In 3B For example, the configuration engineer can use the new display button 352 Select to create a display view for Display1 (Ref # 368) and a rectangle 374 from the button 360 the basic display elements in the configuration screen 366 pull.

If the rectangle 374 is selected, the properties of the rectangle 374 in an editing window 380 shown. The editing area 380 can display several properties of the rectangle, such as: For example, the name of the rectangle (rectangle 1 ), the fill color (white), the fill level (100%), the line color (black), the line width ( 1 Dot), the line style (solid), etc. Each of the properties can be edited in the editing area 380 customized via graphical user interfaces such as drop-down menus or free-text fields. For example, the line thickness property may include a drop-down menu for selecting one of several line thickness values, such as: B. 0.5 pt., 1 pt., 1.5 pt., 1.5 pt. Etc. The fill color property may include a color palette for selecting one of several colors or a free text field for inputting RGB color values. In some embodiments, the properties may also be controlled by graphical controls on the rectangle 374 be adapted, for. Eg via a pop-up menu in response to right-click or double-click on the rectangle 374 , The in the editing area 380 Properties included are just a few sample properties for the rectangle 374 , Additional or alternative adjustable properties can also be displayed.

In addition, relationships or links between display view items can be made by, for example, connecting display view items via lines or other connections. Relationships or links can also be made by referring to other elements of the display view in the properties of a display element. For example, a first display element can represent a tank in the process plant. A second display view element may represent a process parameter value for the tank, such as a fill level. In some scenarios, the configuration engineer may reference the first display view item in the properties of the second display view item such that the first and second display view items are associated and summarized in one or more display views. In some embodiments, each of the associated display view elements associated with a process plant unit or process control may refer to a control tag relating to control modules, nodes, devices (eg, field devices), and / or signals received from devices, control modules, or Nodes are received and / or transmitted, which correspond to the process plant unit.

In any case, the Home tab includes 350 also a publish button 358 to a graphic (a display view, a layout, or a display view hierarchy) in the graphical configuration database 120 to publish. The published graphics can then be provided to a number of operator workstations and presented to the appropriate operators at run time.

The graphical display configuration and usage systems and methods described herein provide various features and aspects in the configuration environment 102 the process plant 10 that can be used by the configuration engineer or user in creating, designing, developing or creating display views that are in the operating environment 105 the process plant 10 to be executed. In addition, by using these various features and aspects, the configuration engineer can significantly reduce the time and resources required to configure, define, develop, and / or edit display views.

An example of such a feature is the preview of operator views and / or parts thereof. As mentioned earlier, the graphical display configuration application shows 110 a preview of the running graphics during the configuration process, eg. B. continuously on the screen or in a preview mode. 4 illustrates a preview 400 an exemplary display view hierarchy provided by the configuration engineer in creating and / or editing the configuration of the display view hierarchy within the configuration environment 102 can be used. The configuration engineer can preview a specific hierarchy from multiple hierarchies, such as: B. Hierarchy 1 , The preview 400 contains a hierarchy area 410 to display the hierarchy of the display views. An interactive preview section 420 is also included to select navigation buttons from a navigation bar to ensure that the navigation bar represents the display views according to the hierarchy. The hierarchy area 410 indicates that a summary view is at the lowest level of detail (Plane 1 ) and a column display, a mixer display and a heating display on level 2 , As in the hierarchy area 410 the column display view includes three sub-views: bottom, top, backflow, and jog. The display view of the mixers includes four sub-views: compound feed, Mixer1, Mixer2 and Mixer3, and the display of the heater includes a bottom view: Steam.

The resulting navigation bar in the interactive preview 420 contains three navigation buttons that correspond to the three level 2 display views. After selecting the mixer's scroll key, a drop-down menu is displayed containing each of the subviews of the display view of the mixer. At run time, an operator can view a display view by selecting the display view from one of the drop-down menus in the navigation bar.

If the configuration engineer with the interactive preview 420 satisfied, he can use the publication button 358 as in 3B to display the hierarchy of the display view and the corresponding navigation bar publish. On the other hand, in the configuration mode, the navigation bar may be edited to contain one or more overview navigation keys or the navigation keys to be configured in another suitable manner. The configuration engineer may also adjust the hierarchy of display views in configuration mode by adjusting the hierarchical levels of the display views, adding or removing display views to the hierarchy, adding or removing subviews to a display view, or other appropriate manner as described above with reference to FIG 3A described.

When the graphical display configuration application 110 The graphical display view hierarchy publishes the published graphics in the configuration environment 102 (eg in the graphical configuration library 120 or other suitable memory) and / or downloaded and / or presented on the respective screens of one or more user interface devices 122 in the operating environment 105 the process plant 10 to be provided.

Another example of a function that may be used by the configuration engineer or user in creating, designing, developing, or generating display views in the operating environment 105 the process plant 10 to be executed is a graphical element preview that is typically (but not necessarily) used in the configuration environment 102 to preview certain graphics developed by configuration engineers for use on different display views without affecting the graphics in an operating environment 105 compiled, downloaded and executed. The preview of the graphic elements is in the configuration environment 102 As already mentioned, it can be continuously displayed / updated during the configuration process or by an explicit user command (eg via a selection of the preview key 364 , as in 3B and may be used while a configuration engineer defines or configures various graphical elements in a display view. That is, a configuration engineer may preview graphical elements "inline" to his configuration activities, e.g. Without having to interrupt its configuration activities to assess how a design graphic may look and / or behave in operation, similar to what was described above, to display view hierarchies in the configuration environment 102 consider. In general, graphical element preview functionality displays through the UI of the graphical display configuration application 110 how different graphic display elements in the operating environment 105 would look and behave without having downloaded the graphical elements and within the operating environment 105 must be executed. By using the graphical element preview feature, the configuration engineer is no longer required to publish, download, and / or execute intermediate drafts of graphical display elements during the configuration activities to confirm the appearance and behaviors of the graphical environment's operating environment. Rather, the configuration engineer is able to fully understand the run-time phenomena and behavior of various graphical display elements within the configuration environment 102 while viewing and / or editing the display view, e.g. For example, configuration engineers can understand the run-time behavior and behavior of design graphics on the editing surface of the configuration environment 102 according to their configuration activities. This significantly shortens the time a configuration engineer must spend creating or editing a display view, and the engineer can work with the assurance that the graphical elements contained in a runtime view are in the operating environment 105 as in the configuration environment 102 configured to work.

The 5A and 5B Illustrate by way of example the graphical element preview illustrating the graphical display configuration application 110 in the configuration environment 102 offers, for. Continuously during the configuration process and / or as needed, as previously discussed. In the 5A and 5B The respective ranges of movement (eg, which can be indicated by respective boundaries, limits, or stops) of various graphics are graphically displayed on the configuration screen. The configuration engineer is able to graphically define boundaries or stops for the movement of each graphical element on the configuration canvas and preview the boundaries / stops without requiring user calculations to determine numeric boundaries / stops and / or without to perform a editing and publishing cycle for the graphical element.

5A For example, represents an exemplary graphical element of the display view of an animated bar graph 502 which may be included on different display views. The animated bar graph 502 includes a bar shape 505 and a corresponding animation section 508a - 508d that allows the user to graphically and easily define (eg by manipulating the graphic handles 508a . 508c . 508d) and a corresponding range of motion (eg maximum and minimum positions) of the triangular shape 508 in terms of the bar shape 505 display. In the bar graph 502 shows or defines the triangle 508a a position animation corresponding to the upper horizontal edge of the bars 505 along a vertical axis 508b , That is, the triangle 508a indicates that the upper horizontal edge of the rod 505 along the vertical axis 508b can move. In some implementations, the triangle may be 508a Serve as a handle of the user interface, through which the engineer the desired range of motion of the animation 508 can define graphically. Furthermore, the triangle shows 508c within the animation area 508 an initial or minimum starting position of the upper horizontal edge 508a the pole 505 and the triangle 508d a maximum stop position of the upper horizontal edge 508a the pole 505 at. In one embodiment, the configurator may be the handle triangle 508a between the desired end / stop positions 508c . 508d move, thereby the desired range of motion of the rod 505 graphically to define or configure. The triangles 508a . 508c and 508d can be visually distinguished in any suitable manner. For example, the triangle 508a displayed in a first color (eg, blue) to signal that it corresponds to the desired animation while the triangles 508c and 508d in a second color (eg, gray) to signal that they correspond to stops or boundaries. Additionally, in some implementations, a green dot may be on the triangle 508c be placed to indicate that the triangle 508c represents a start position, and a red dot on the triangle 508d to indicate that the triangle 508d represents a stop position. Of course, that's in the bar graph 502 For example, one particular implementation is just one of many possible implementations. For example, the animation indicators 508a . 508c . 508d use shapes other than triangles. Additionally or alternatively, the types, handles and / or directions of the animations 508a . 508b displayed by other shapes, colors or other differentiated visualizations, and / or the start positions / end positions 508c . 508d can be displayed by other desired shapes, colors, and / or other differentiated visualizations. In some implementations, the animated bar graph may be 502 into the configuration library 120 out-of-the-box, so that the configuration engineers only the different parts 505 . 508a - 508d the bar graph 502 Drag, drop and position, thereby the graphic 502 , her animation (s) 508a . 508b and the limits or range of motion 508c . 508d configure your animation (s) as desired. The revised animated bar graph 502 can then be saved (and published sometime) as a separate display element object or saved (and eventually published) as a version of the out-of-the-box object definition.

also shows an exemplary graphical element of the display view of an animated gauge graphic 512 , The animated measurement graphics 512 includes a semicircle shape 515 and an animated needle 518a that are about the shape 515 can turn. The animation area of the needle 518a will be through the stops 518b . 518c , each one starting position 518b the needle 515a (for example, by the starting position 518b can be displayed in green color) and a stop position 518c the needle 515a (which can be indicated by the stop position with red color, for example). In one embodiment, the needle 518a serve as a graphical grip of the user interface that a configurator can manipulate / move to thereby control the range of motion 518b . 518c the needle 515a graphically during runtime operations. The meter graphic 512 can in the configuration library 120 be included out-of-the-box, so the configurators only the different sections of 515, 518a-518c of the graph 512 can drag, drop and position, thereby the graphics 512 , her animation 518a and the limits 518b . 518c the range of movement of the animation needle 518a automatically configure. The revised animated gauge graphic 512 can then be saved (and published sometime) as a separate display element object or saved (and eventually published) as a version of the out-of-the-box object definition.

5B shows another example of a graphical display view element, for. B. that of an animated Füllprozentgrafik 520 , In general, the animated fill percent graphic 520 used to represent the level of a corresponding control in the process plant, such as a tank or a container (which itself may be another graphical element). Drag, drop, and / or position the animation fill indicator 522 and / or its edges, the configuration engineer can graphically configure various fill directions and stop positions, e.g. Low to high, as in reference 520a shown, high to low, as in reference 520b represented, or filling between two specific levels, as in reference 520c shown. For example, while referring to 2C the fill percent graphic 520a the one in the tank graphic 155a contained bottom-to-top filling animation 162a.

Of course, the graphic display elements 502 . 512 . 522 just three examples for many graphical display elements used in the configuration environment 102 can be considered in advance. In general, any graphical display element with configurable animation properties in the configuration environment 102 be previewed without it being downloaded and in the operating environment 105 must be executed. Furthermore, the configurable animation properties of a graphical display element may be at least partially (though not completely) graphically defined by the configuration engineer by manipulating and / or moving one or more handles of the graphical display element.

5C illustrates another function of the graphical display configuration application 110 which allows bulk edits to be applied simultaneously to multiple graphical display elements displayed on the configuration display canvas. As in 5C The configuration engineer has three different graphical elements 525 . 528 . 530 selected, for. B. as they visually through the highlighted shapes on a processing screen 532 the graphical display configuration application 110 and 535 in the corresponding editing window 538 the configuration interface are shown. The editing area 538 Also includes various selectable and / or configurable properties that apply to the selected elements 525 . 528 . 530 can be applied in bulk processing. That is, a single user selection and / or configuration of one of these properties causes the selected / configured property to affect all selected elements 525 . 528 . 530 is applied. Such mass processable properties may include, for example, fill properties (eg, color, percent, angle, background, etc.), line properties (eg, width, solid, dashed, bold, etc.), geometry (eg, width, height, rotation angle , Center, etc.), references to one or more standards, or other values to associate with the selected graphic elements, changes to an animation, changes to a script, and so on. In addition, the mass selection and / or mass configuration of a particular property of multiple graphical display elements may be automatically displayed on the configuration canvas 532 are displayed. For example, a configuration engineer can open a color palette to select a fill color based on the elements 525 . 528 . 530 is applied, and while the engineer moves the mouse pointer over the palette before selecting, the fill color of each of the selected graphics may change 525 . 528 . 530 automatically change to reflect the colors of the palette that move the mouse pointer. In another example, a configuration engineer may graphically rotate a selected group of shapes by selecting and moving a corresponding handle for one of the selected shapes. When the engineer changes the rotation angle, not only will all of the selected shapes rotate on the configuration canvas, but also the respective rotation angle values in the edit window 538 automatically change to numerically display the corresponding rotation angles displayed on the screen screen. In general, any property that can be selected and / or configured for a single graphical display element can be applied to a selected group of graphical display elements. In addition, the selection and / or configuration can be graphically implemented without requiring the user to enter numerical limits or definitions, e.g. By detecting and manipulating a handle of one of the selected elements.

5D illustrates further features provided by the graphical display configuration application 110 can be provided by the configuration engineer when creating, designing, developing, or generating display views that are in the operating environment 105 the process plant 10 to be executed. Such a feature 540a - 540e may allow lines to remain attached to the mold (s) or graphic (s) to which they are connected, e.g. For example, if the user moves the shape (s) or graphic (s) to different locations on the configuration screen. By way of illustration, the shape 540a within the configuration environment 102 configured to make a connection line 540b and a connection arc line 540c to have. If the engineer is the form 540a moving around the canvas, the lines remain 540b . 540c with the form 540a connected, z. B. via corresponding connection points 540d . 540e , In addition, an engineer may define desired connection points for a particular shape or graphic, such as the shape 542 illustrates on the Configurator four desired connection points 545a - 545d has defined. For example, the shape 542 represent a tank, the connection points 545a - 545d can represent places where different pipes are attached to the tank, and the pipes 548a - 548D , each at the connection points 545a - 545d fixed, can represent the various tubes that are attached to the tank. While the configurator the form 542 moving around the canvas, the lines remain 548a - 548D at their respective connection points 545a - 545d attached. Since a display view may include many different shapes (eg, hundreds of different shapes), a configuration engineer may lock a position of a particular shape (not shown) so that the locked shape can not be accidentally moved while holding another shape New shape and the configuration engineer can unlock a locked shape if he or she wants to move it to another location. In addition, a configuration engineer may select a particular shape or area on the configuration canvas to be hidden and / or grayed out (not shown) so that the configuration engineer can more easily focus on configuring other shapes and / or areas. Hiding / graying selected shapes and / or areas is a feature that works only in edit mode of the configuration environment 102 is available as a convenience to the configuration engineer and is not presented as a configured property of the display view. Of course, the configuration engineer can display or reverse greyed out forms if desired.

Another feature that comes from the graphical display configuration application 110 can be provided is the function Crossover Configuration, which allows the configuration of line transitions and a corresponding crossover style or effect. The views of the operator display may represent process pipes for various types of flows (eg, process streams, power supply, air supply, etc.) over lines. A single display may include several different lines (eg, 10-20 different lines or more), and it may be inevitable that some of the lines in the display view intersect. A line drawing convention is typically used to eliminate ambiguity as to whether line intersection indicates that pipes are physically connected at the intersection or not. Commonly used conventions to indicate that intersection lines are not physically connected pipes include, for example, a line break or gap at an intersection, as by reference 550a . 550b or a semicircle at an intersection, as by the references 552a . 552b shown. In current graphical configuration systems, typically all the characteristics of a line, such as a line must be. B. the animation of the line 550a or 550b , duplicated and repeated for each line segment on both sides of a crossover, which adds additional configuration and testing overhead to the configurator. In addition, the graphic designer in current graphic configuration systems has the crossover network 550 . 552 draw manually. This results in considerable effort and time for resizing, positioning, and applying various properties to lines, and increases the likelihood of configuration errors, such as: For example forgetting to animate a line segment.

With the function crossover configuration, by the graphical display configuration application 110 however, the engineer is able to configure when a line should display a crossover and the desired crossover style or effect to be displayed in the display view (e.g., line break or spacing, semicircle or another suitable crossover style or effect). Thus, all properties applied / configured on a line containing one or more crossovers are automatically applied / configured to all segments of the line. As a result, the line properties need to be configured only once for a particular line and the likelihood of configuration errors is significantly reduced. In addition, instead of manually drawing each crossover, a configuration engineer may choose a selected crossover style or effect to automatically apply a single line, a group of lines, or all the lines contained in the display view.

In some embodiments, a crossover effect may automatically adjust to the thickness of the line to which it is applied. A crossover effect can be automatically adjusted when a configurator changes the alignment, position, length, and / or other properties of a line containing the crossover effect. In addition, the stacking order of the display elements in the display view does not affect a crossover effect. That is, Send Back / Bring Forward commands applied to a line that contains crossover effects will not change their configured crossover effects, even if the line is stacked behind another line that does not contain any crossover effects. In addition, the crossover effects are not limited to just rectangular crossovers, such as the references 550 . 552 from 5D but can be applied to any angle of the line switch.

5D represents another feature used by the graphical display configuration application 110 can be provided and used by the user of the configuration engineer when creating, designing, developing or generating display views that are in the operating environment 105 the process plant 10 to be executed, for. For example, the On Canvas Graphical Editing feature, such as the sample graph 560 shows. The On Canvas Graphical Editing feature allows properties that are frequently changed for process control configuration to be displayed on the canvas of the graphical display configuration application 110 to graphically edit using appropriate handles. In particular, besides handles, the configuration engineers are provided that engineers can use to change the length, width, height, and rotation of various shapes (for example, as in the References 562a - 562h indicated), one or more additional handles 565 provided, for. Out-of-the-box so that configuration engineers can easily change one or more frequently changed properties of a particular shape for process control configurations. For example, in the triangle shape 560 the handle 565 Supplied as standard so that a configurator can easily change the angle of the triangle. For other shapes, similar handles may be provided. Thus, for example, for a rounded rectangular shape (not shown) appropriate handles for skew, size and / or type of corners are provided, for. Eg out-of-the-box. The configuration engineer can manipulate the provided handles to graphically edit the shape on the configuration canvas. In addition, numerical representations of the manipulations can be made automatically by the graphical display configuration 120 detected when a handle is moved to a desired position and stored by the configurator.

The 5E and 5F illustrate an embodiment of another feature, e.g. For example, you can see the Interactions function of the graphical display configuration application 110 can be provided and used by the configuration engineer's user in creating, designing, developing, or generating display views in the operating environment 105 the process plant 10 to be executed. With reference to 5E The Show Interactions feature offers one or more user controls 572a . 572b that allow a configuration engineer to easily find all the shapes and / or graphics configured with user interaction. Operator interactions include user controls that are configured in a particular form or graphic that an operator within the operating environment 105 can activate to generate a certain kind of reaction. Examples of operator interactions are click actions, double-click actions, secondary click actions, hover actions, and the like. If the configuration engineer the user control 572a For the Show Interaction Regions enabled, one or more interaction hotspots or areas that contain user interaction configured therein may appear on the configuration canvas 576 be displayed as in 5F shown. A second user control 572b (eg as in 5E shown) allows a configurator to filter on the type of operator interaction, if desired. In 5F become the interaction hotspots or areas 574a . 574b . 574c are indicated by a gray outline of the graphical elements configured to include one or more operator interactions, but any other suitable visualization can be used to indicate interaction hotspots / areas. Additionally, corresponding textual descriptions of the displayed operator interactions may be in a separate area 578 the user interface of the graphical display configuration application 110 being represented. Viewing interaction hotspots / areas can be turned on and off (individually or as a group) to help the configuration engineer identify overlaps and get a summary of which graphical display elements of the display view have configured interactions. The View Interactions feature may be implemented as a particular view of the target display view in one embodiment, and may be enabled or disabled as desired to reduce clutter on the canvas during configuration.

5G illustrates an embodiment of another feature, e.g. B. the timer function 580 that came from the graphical display configuration application 110 can be provided and used by the configuration engineer's user in creating, designing, developing, or generating display views in the operating environment 105 the process plant 10 to be executed. In general, the timer feature provides 580 the ability of a configuration engineer to insert timers into display views, contextual displays, GEM classes, groups, layouts, and / or other types of display ad elements. Such as in 5G can be a configuration engineer through a user selection 582 configure a timer associated with another graphical display element or the graphical display view itself. A timer may be implemented as an object that may be included in or otherwise associated with one or more other graphical display elements. In general, a configuration engineer for configuring a timer may specify information that identifies and / or describes the timer (eg, title, description, day, etc.), and specify one or more characteristics of the timer, such as action, duration, and / or whether the timer is active or not. In an illustrative example, a timer is configured to be associated with a particular graphical display element, and when the respective graphical display element is in the operating environment 105 is executed, the timer runs continuously and executes its configured action according to the graphical display element according to its configured duration, e.g. For example, the timer executes its configured action once per configured duration. For example, a layout can be configured to include a timer that has a certain window included in the layout closes if, until the expiration of the timer, a certain control measurement was not received in that window. In another example, an alarm may be configured with a first timer that triggers a defined visualization if no operator response is received within the duration of the first timer, and the alarm with a second timer that triggers an escalation event if within the duration of the first timer second timer no operator response is received. In embodiments in which a timer is configured to receive an "active" property, which may be a Boolean property, the timer performs its action (s) when the "active" property is set to true, not its action (en) if the "active" property is set to false. The "active" property can be implemented as an animation of the timer, as a reference within the timer to a variable, a custom property or standard, or otherwise as desired.

Now to the 6A and 6B An example of one type of display view element provided by the graphical display configuration and application systems and methods described herein is a display conversion element of the animation conversion, also referred to interchangeably herein as a library animation display view element. As is well known, an animation is a dynamic action or change that is triggered to be applied to a portion of a graphic contained in a display view when one or more conditions occur. For example, a field can be a graphic with an animation in the configuration environment 102 be configured so that in the operating environment 105 When a particular alarm becomes active, part of the text in the field becomes visible on the graph. In another example, a particular display view may have an animation in the configuration environment 102 be configured so that in the operating environment 105 when a value of a particular process variable (PV) exceeds a threshold, an indicator appears to the operator indicating an action on the display view, e.g. Often in process control systems, the trigger conditions for an animation are a combination of multiple conditions, and / or the animation may include a combination of colors and / or other properties applied to one or more graphical display elements can.

In currently known process control configuration systems, the logic that defines the particular combination of conditions that trigger a given animation on a particular graphic must be unique for each instance of the graphics object and for each graphic object property (for example, the animation must be separate for each property each instance of a graphic object). Because the logic that defines the trigger conditions often involves complex logical or mathematical expressions, configuration engineers must understand and manipulate the associated complex syntaxes to configure various graphics and / or graphical properties with animation. Since the trigger condition logic is not reusable, there must be a significant development and testing effort each time the logic is used, e.g. For example, for each instance of a graphical object, for each graphical property of a graphical object, etc. Thus, the configuration engineer is responsible for maintaining animation consistency across the graphics in currently known configuration systems, often resulting in errors in both graphics development and graphics Graphics maintenance (eg, when minor graphical configuration changes need to be made) because the trigger condition logic can not be consistently and / or globally implemented with known process control configuration systems.

On the other hand, these and other disadvantages are addressed by the display elements of the Animation Conversion Function in the present disclosure. In particular, a display element of the Animation Conversion Function in the configuration environment 102 be implemented as a particular object type (eg, an object of the Animation Conversion Function) in which the trigger condition logic of an animation is defined or specified. In one embodiment, the trigger condition logic of an object of the animation conversion function is implemented as a function having one or more inputs and an output, the one or more inputs corresponding to different conditions, the function defining the logic that corresponds to the one or the multiple inputs are applied, and the output displays some sort of animation and / or whether or not the animation should be applied to its host view or element, based on the results of the function operating on the inputs. The functional logic may take the form of one or more calculations performed on input values, a script, a table, and / or another suitable implementation (s). However, in general, when configuring a graphical display or an item when referring to a defined animation conversion function, a configurator only needs to specify the name of the defined animation conversion function and specify setpoints of various conditions that trigger the application of the animation or run into the host at runtime. Change view or host element without knowing what the trigger condition logic is and / or how the trigger condition logic is implemented. Accordingly, an animation conversion function animates at runtime in the operating environment 105 its host graphical display view or its element based on values of trigger conditions set by the configuration engineer.

Each object of the Animation Conversion Function can be uniquely identified by a name or other suitable identifier, and objects of the Animation Conversion Function can be found in the graphical configuration library 120 stored and published so that they can be easily referenced by any other object of the display element, any object of the display view, and / or any event. In fact, in one embodiment, animation conversion functions can be nested so that one animation conversion function points to another animation conversion function. In any case, when configuring display views and display view elements, the configurators may simply specify a desired object of the animation conversion function (eg, by name or other suitable identifier) within or in relation to a display view or refer to display view element. When a configuration engineer puts a specific animation conversion feature on a graphical display view or element in the configuration environment 102 In one embodiment, the configuration engineer automatically displays various fields corresponding to the referenced animation conversion function so that the configuration engineer is able to set the desired trigger values. Such value-receiving fields can be labeled, for example, with aliases or names that are of importance to the configurator. Accordingly, configuration engineers using animation conversion functions are protected from having to understand mathematical and / or programmed syntaxes when referencing animations, and in most embodiments need only provide a name and trigger values.

Also, because the animation conversion functions are defined as objects and in the graphical configuration library 120 can be stored, the triggering logic contained in each animation conversion function must be created and tested only once, which significantly reduces the time it takes to create and test the display views in which the animation is contained. Likewise, if a change to the triggering conditional logic is required, the change needs to be tested only once.

A snapshot of an exemplary workflow for configuring a graphical display element with an animation conversion feature in the configuration environment 102 is in 6A shown. In 6A represents the user interface of the graphical display configuration application 110 a configuration editing canvas 600 available on which a configuration engineer a rectangle shape 602 has positioned. In an editing area 605 The configuration engineer chooses a specific animation conversion function 608 out, z. For example, in this example, the PV_Color_Animation is a set of named animation conversion functions (each one in the graphical configuration library 120 stored, each defined object of the animation conversion function correspond), which the configuration engineer on the rectangular shape 602 would like to apply to the instance of the rectangle 602 defining the display element object with the PV_Color_Animation. After the PV_Color_Animation 608 has been selected by the configuration engineer, you can enter the edit area 605 (not shown) one or more input fields corresponding to different conditions or inputs to PV_Color_Animation are presented so that the configuration engineer is able to define the various trigger condition values that cause the PV_Color_Animation to fall to the rectangular shape during runtime 602 is applied. For example, input fields that correspond to a particular input (eg, a process variable PV) may have a lower input limit (eg, PV_LO), an upper input limit (eg, PV_HI), etc. in the edit area 605 so that the configuration engineer can enter setpoints. (Of course, some animation conversion functions may not contain user-defined trigger condition values.) So can the instantiated rectangle 602 at runtime in the operating environment 105 animated with a color fill as defined by the PV_Color_Animation function, based on the PV values provided by the configuration engineer.

In one embodiment, the graphical configuration library 120 include a set of selectable, predefined animation conversion functions, each of which may abstract its implementation by the configuration engineer. Of course, the configuration engineer can customize an on-the-fly animation conversion feature and then save / publish the edited animation conversion feature as another version of the on-the-fly animation conversion feature and / or as a new animation conversion feature. In addition, the graphical display configuration application provides 110 the configuration engineer the opportunity, on request new or custom animation conversion functions from the ground up.

To illustrate the definitions of Animation Conversion Functions 6B a definition 615 an instance of the PV_Color_Animation conversion function of 6A as they are in the library 120 is stored. As by reference 618 specified, the value input field indicates which input for the conversion function PV_Color_Animation of 6A is to be used by the conversion function, in this case "PV". As in reference 620 is the type of output of the conversion function "color". In addition, as in reference 622 specified, the conversion type of the PV_Color_Animation conversion function defined as "value". In this case, the PV_Color_Animation Function has trigger values for the configuration engineer 625 various conditions indicated by their user-friendly aliases 628 are displayed. In addition, the PV_Color_Animation defines definition 615 corresponding outputs 630 (of type "Color" 620) to be applied to a host element, if the respective condition values 625 occur. Corresponding outputs 632 which should be applied to the host element if exceptions 635 of the function (eg unknown, bad or unsafe conditions) are also in the definition 615 intended. Of course, other types of function inputs and outputs as well as conversions are additionally or alternatively possible. For example, a set of inputs may include different types of variables, such as the process plant 10 (eg process variables, controlled variables, disturbance variables, output variables, etc.), eg For example, variables whose values can change dynamically while the process is running. In addition, inputs may be of any type, e.g. For example, boolean, number, string, color, font, image, measurement, etc. A variety of output types may include, for example, colors, numbers, images, dynamic visualizations, etc., each of which may include size, position, and the like. For example, a variety of conversion types may include values, scripts, and / or functions that specify or define different visualizations and / or behaviors.

When a configuration engineer has a new animation conversion feature with the graphical display configuration application 110 Additionally, the configuration engineer can create or define any of the fields 618 - 635 configure / define the new animation conversion feature as desired, and include more, less, and / or other fields as desired. For example, a configuration engineer may create / define a new animation conversion function to generate a particular set of output actions and / or visual effects when a particular set of inputs is combined with a particular logic. Furthermore, when creating a new Animation Conversion Function, the engineer can define the logic of the new function (eg, by using a script or other suitable logical representation), and the defined logic can match the definition 615 get saved. Typically, however, Conversion Animation Functions logical definitions are provided to configuration engineers who define or edit Conversion Animation Functions, and they are not (eg, to view and / or edit). Configuration Engineers are provided that reference defined Conversion Animation Functions in Display Views and / or Display View Elements.

Another type of display view element provided by the graphical display configuration and usage systems and methods described herein is an embedded link display view element that may be used or embedded in a text field of a display view. In the currently known process control graphical configuration systems, text fields (eg, to define text strings) and data links / hyperlinks (eg, to define a position within the process control system where certain data can be retrieved) are different objects of the display view element implemented. Therefore, it is difficult for configuration engineers to spatially arrange and format a text box and a separate datalink / hyperlink element so that the text and the data received via the link appear inline on a runtime view. For example, if the text around the received data is edited so that the text length increases or decreases, the data must be repositioned separately. In addition, the text itself must be specifically positioned during configuration to account for possible changes in the received data values represented in a runtime width.

The graphical display element Embedded Link fixes these and other disadvantages. In general, the Embedded Link graphical display element is implemented as an independent display element object that can be placed in a text frame object and is subordinate to the text frame object. Thus, a text box with an embedded data link / hyperlink in the configuration environment 102 can be manipulated and formatted as an integral entity, which can be integrally dimensioned, moved to different positions in the display view, etc. If a text frame object containing an embedded link is in the Duration of the process plant 10 instantiated, a data value obtained through the connection and the static text can automatically be kept correctly aligned (and automatically wrapped when the border is activated), so that the text elements and the data obtained appear seamless in the display view. Thus, the in-line alignment and appearance of the obtained data and text strings is inherited from the Embedded Link objects and does not require a custom configuration.

To illustrate shows 7 a snapshot of an exemplary workflow at a user interface of the graphical display configuration application 110 in which a display view 640 on a configuration canvas 642 is configured. The display view 640 contains a text box 645 containing text elements and three embedded links, e.g. Datalink1 (reference 648a) , Datalink2 (reference 648b) and a hyperlink (reference 648c) , The configuration engineer is about to start Datalink1 (reference 648a) to configure and has in an editing window 652 the path 650 entered to the desired data. As in 7 The configuration engineer can change the properties of Datalink1 (reference 648a) directly on the screen 642 configure graphically, z. By changing the font, line, fill, geometry, and / or other parameters. The resulting numeric representations of the property values can be automatically made in the corresponding fields in the editing window 652 being represented. Alternatively, the configuration engineer can provide the desired property values in the edit window fields 652 and the visualization of the entered properties can automatically change in the appearance of Datalink1 (Reference 648a) on the configuration canvas 642 find. So on the configuration canvas 652 automatically previews the appearance of the received data with the associated text strings, without the user having the textbox 645 or the links 648 in the operating environment 105 download and instantiate.

Each of the embedded links 648a - 648c can be configured with its own properties (color, font, point size, etc.). Alternatively, the text box 645 be configured with a set of properties that automatically connect to one or more of the embedded links 648a - 648c can be forwarded.

To get to the tab views now, tab views of currently known process control configuration systems are typically created using programming scripts. Accordingly, the resulting configurations may be difficult and time consuming for a configuration engineer to develop. In addition, configuration maintenance, enhancement, and troubleshooting can be difficult and require extensive scripting skills and training from configuration engineers. In addition, when configuring the tabular display views, the corresponding display views in each tab can be overlaid, and the configuration engineer may not be able to view each display view separately by selecting the appropriate tab. This makes the overlaid display views overloaded and difficult for the configurator to configure during configuration.

To remedy these problems, the graphical display configuration and usage systems and methods described herein include, in particular, the graphical display configuration application 110 a tab display view item 702 as in the view 700 the graphical display configuration application 110 in 8th shown. The tab view item 702 , which may be an object of the display view element, may be graphically defined by graphical user elements, such as: By dragging and dropping the tab display view item 702 into the configuration canvas 710 the graphical display configuration application 110 and by defining properties of the tab display view element 702 in the editing area 720 , In addition, each tab in the Tab Display View element 702 a separate display view in the graphical display configuration application 110 be assigned. For example, Tab1 can be assigned to the Display view1, Tab2 can be assigned to the Display view2, and so on. For each tab within the element 702 In the Display View tab, a display view can be created and saved with reference to the tab. In particular, the register display view element 702 contain multiple tabs, each in the graphical configuration database 120 and / or in the graphical display configuration application 110 are stored with respect to a corresponding display view. For example, if the configuration engineer selects one of the tabs by clicking the tab, the graphical display configuration application stops 110 the corresponding display view (eg, display view 1 ) 712 on the configuration canvas 710 If a tab has no associated display view, the graphical display configuration application can 110 a blank display view 712 on the configuration screen 710 so that the configuration engineer can create an associated display view using display view elements.

The tab display view item 702 on the configuration screen 710 the graphical display configuration application 110 can be used for example in a front panel. In other scenarios, the configuration engineer may choose the tab display view item 702 for use in any suitable display view. As mentioned above, the tab display item includes 702 several configurable properties in the editing area 702 , such as For example, the number of tabs (for example, 2), the tab style such as rounded, rectangular, trapezoidal, etc., the height and / or width of each tab, the color of each tab, the line weight of each tab, animations, if any Tab is selected or not selected, or other appropriate properties. The tabbed view item 702 can also have a graphical user control to add a tab 714 to the tabbed view item 702 include. The configuration engineer can define the number of rows for the tabs or the width of each tab, the width of the tab display ad element 702 and the number of tabs and the graphical display configuration application 110 can automatically determine the number of lines.

In some embodiments, the configuration engineer may place the tabs over the editing area 720 or rearrange user input on the display element of the tab, e.g. For example, click and drag a tab to the end of a line. The configuration engineer may also select the number of rows and the position of the tabs within each row via user inputs on the display element of the tab, such as: For example, clicking and dragging a tab above or below another tab.

Each tab can also have a label that can contain text and / or a symbol or image. In some embodiments, the tabs divide within the tab display display element 702 a common theme, such as the same height, width, style, color, etc., while the labels for each tab can have different text, symbols, or images. The labels can be edited in the edit area 720 or generated via user input on each tab, such as Double-click or right-click a tab to insert text or an image. In some embodiments, the text style for each tab may be the same, such as: Font, font size, font color, etc.

The configuration engineer can include all appropriate display elements in the display views that correspond to each of the tabs. This includes a nested tab view element within the tab view element 702 , If the configuration engineer then selects a particular tab, the associated display and display view items within the associated display view can be viewed through the graphical display configuration application 110 being represented.

In this way, the configuration engineer can see how each of the tabs in the tab display element look like 702 for the operator during runtime looks like. By separately saving each display view in conjunction with another tab, the display views can be presented to the configuration engineer in a concise and editable manner. Each of the corresponding display views for the respective tabs can also be published and made available to the operator workstations. One of the corresponding display views can then be in the operating environment 105 are displayed under one of the tabs during runtime when the operator selects the tab.

In a sample scenario, a tab display view item 702 generated to represent attributes of a particular control module. A first tab may be referred to as "thresholds" and may include a set of thresholds for various process parameters corresponding to the control module. The thresholds may be static or user-configurable. A second tab may be referred to as a "parameter" and may include a set of process parameters that correspond to the control module. A third tab may be referred to as "alarms / limits" and may include a set of alarms corresponding to the control module and thresholds for each of the alarms. The thresholds may also be static or user-configurable.

Like the tab views, tooltip display views are typically configured in currently known process control configuration systems using programming scripts, and the resulting configurations can be difficult and time-consuming for a configuration engineer to develop. A tooltip display view may be a dialog box that corresponds to a particular display view item, such as a graphical representation of a process plant unit or control (eg, a tank, a mixer, a valve, a pump, etc.). The tooltip display view may appear in response to user input or a trigger on the respective display element. The trigger can be a mouse pointer over the respective display element, be a mouse click on the respective display element, etc.

To eliminate the need for programming scripts when creating quick info, the systems described herein, and methods of configuring and using the graphical display and display, the graphical display configuration application is included 110 an action to display the Quick Info view as a specific object type that can be selected and configured through graphical user controls. 9A illustrates an exemplary view 730 a section of the graphical display configuration application 110 for generating a contextual display (eg, a tooltip display) for a display view element in response to user input on the display view element. The configurator may insert a display view item into a display view, such as a graphical representation of a pump 732 by putting the pump 732 drag and drop into the display view. In response to user input on the display view item 732 , such as For example, right-click on the display view item, left click on the display view item, and so on, the graphical display configuration application 110 a graphical user control to configure a tooltip display view 734 represent. In additional or alternative embodiments, the editing area may be 740 include one or more properties for configuring the tooltip display view. These properties can be a kind of action 742 include such. For example, "Open Contextual Display As Tooltip," a trigger for the action 744 , z. In response to a mouse pointer over the display viewing element 732 , a mouse click on the display view element 732 , double-click the display view item 732 etc., and the display view 746 in response to the trigger. In some embodiments, the tooltip action may be of different types of actions 742 be selected, such. Open front panel, animation of the display view item 732 , no action, etc. In addition, the configuration engineer can configure various actions in response to various triggers on a display element. For example, the action "Open Contextual Display As Tooltip" may be executed in response to a mouse pointer trigger and an open faceplate action in response to a mouse click trigger.

The editing area 740 can include multiple display views from which the configurator can choose, such as: Display1, Display2, Display3, etc. that are in the graphical configuration database 120 stored display views. In addition, the configuration engineer can change the name of the display view 746 which should be presented in response to the trigger and then configure the display view at a later time.

9B illustrates an example of the display view 760 in response to user input on the display view element 732 in 9A is pictured. For example, the display view element 732 be a graphical representation of a tank (eg the in 2C illustrated tank graphic 155a) and the display view 760 may include tank level characteristics that may be static or dynamic. The properties can be a name of the tank level 762 (eg "LT-123"), a process parameter value for the tank level 764 , such as a percentage of the filled tank, a setpoint for the tank level 766 and an output variable value for the tank level 768 , such as a flow of liquid flowing out of the tank. While the name of the tank level 762 is static and remains constant during runtime and the setpoint for the tank level 766 can also remain constant, the process parameter value for the tank level 764 and the output value for the tank level 768 be dynamic and constantly change during operation of the process plant. The display view 760 can also include animated content and display view elements with their own actions in response to triggers, such as: B. a mouse click or mouse pointer.

With reference to 9A defines the graphical display configuration application 110 the display view 760 as the tooltip view, in response to a mouse pointer over the ad's display element 732 is presented. When the display view item 732 published and made available to the operator workstations, an operator who views the display viewing element 732 viewed through the display view element 732 drive and the display view 760 , which represents the characteristics of the pump, can the graphic representation of the pump 732 be superimposed. In some embodiments, the tooltip display view may be automatically configured to disappear when the operator stops using the display element 732 or the tooltip display view 760 for a threshold duration (eg 500 ms). In additional or alternative embodiments, the tooltip display view may be automatically configured to disappear after a threshold timeout (eg, 2 minutes). The operator can then move the mouse over the display element again 732 drive, so the tooltip view 760 reappears.

10 FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method. FIG 800 to configure a A display view for execution in a process environment of a process plant that may be performed by one or more different devices operating in the configuration environment 102 the process plant 10 are arranged. For example, in one embodiment, the method 800 by one or more instances of the graphical configuration application 110 carried out. To simplify the discussion and not for limitation purposes, the method 800 in the following with simultaneous reference to the systems and devices of 1A - 3B however, it is understood that the method 800 can be performed by other suitable systems and / or devices.

As in 10 illustrated, includes the method 800 at a block 802 depicting a preview user control on a user interface provided by a graphical configuration application executing in a process plant configuration environment (such as the graphical configuration application 110 that are in the configuration environment 102 the process plant 10 is executed) and on which a design of a display view configuration is displayed and / or in the process of creation or editing. For example, the configuration of the display view may be displayed, created, and / or manipulated to define corresponding links between one or more graphical elements included in the display view and one or more controls included in an operating environment of the process plant such that upon download and execution (eg, publication) of the completed, approved display view on a user interface device (such as the one in the operating environment 105 the process plant 10 contained UI device 8th ), corresponding indications of one or more values generated by one or more controls during execution in the process environment of the process plant for controlling the process are displayed and updated in real time in the executing display view.

The procedure 800 Also includes, at a block 805 , receiving an indication of activation of the preview user control while presenting, creating, and / or editing the design of the display view configuration. At a block 808 based on or in response to the activation of the preview user control, includes the method 800 generating a preview representing at least one of a runtime image or runtime behavior of the design view view configuration or a portion or subset thereof. The important thing is that at the block 808 the preview of the configuration of the design view is generated independently of the operating environment of the process plant, e.g. For example, the design view view configuration need not be downloaded into the operating environment (or even downloaded into a simulation environment) to generate the preview. That is, consistent with on-canvas editing, the configuration view's configuration display in the configuration environment 102 (for example, through the graphical configuration application UI 110 ), the preview representing the runtime image and / or runtime behavior of the design configuration (and perhaps only partially completed) of the display view may be completely within the configuration environment 102 based on the snapshot previously displayed on the configuration canvas or part of the design of the display view configuration. In some embodiments, a user may specify a particular graphical display element, section, or region of the design representation to be previewed, and the preview may include a representation of the appearance and / or behavior of the specified element, section, or region Create and display runtime. In some embodiments, the generated preview is an interactive preview over which a user may interact (eg, enable and disable various user controls displayed thereon) to determine the desired functionality and / or logic of user interactions included in the configuration of the design view are configured.

In addition, the procedure includes 800 displaying the preview of the display view (block 810 ) on the graphical configuration application UI, e.g. In accordance with on-canvas editing of the design representation within the configuration environment 102 which, as already mentioned, can be an interactive preview.

It should be noted that the procedure 800 is only one of many possible embodiments. For example, in one embodiment, the blocks 802 and 805 and part of the block 808 be omitted, such. For example, if a preview of the configuration of the draft or running display view is continuously generated and displayed on the graphical configuration application canvas, e.g. For example, seamlessly during the workflow of defining the configuration of the display view as various graphical display elements, configurations, properties, and the like are added, deleted, configured, changed, defined, and so on. In such an embodiment, the preview user control must not provided by the UI graphical configuration application.

In one embodiment, the method 800 further comprising providing a publish user control in the graphical configuration application UI; receiving an indication of activation of the publication user control; generating a published version or publication of the draft presentation configuration based on the received notification of activation of the publish user control; enabling the published version or publication of the display view configuration to be provided to the operating environment of the process plant for execution; and preventing the design representation configuration from being provided to the operating environment of the process plant. Furthermore, in this embodiment, even though a publication of the configuration of the design representation has been generated and stored within the configuration environment, generation of the preview of the display view (Block 808 ) nevertheless comprises generating the preview of the display view independently (eg, without usage) from a publication of the display view.

In some embodiments, a first graphical element object defines a configuration of a first graphical element of the one or more graphical elements of the display view, and a second graphic element object defines a configuration of a second graphical element of the one or more graphical elements of the display view. In these embodiments, the method 800 further comprising receiving via the user interface of the graphical configuration application an indication of the inclusion of a reference to the second graphical element object within the first graphical element object. Thus, in these embodiments, presenting the preview that includes the at least one of the runtime occurrences or the runtime behavior of the display view (block 810 ), presenting the preview representing at least one of the appearances or behaviors of the first graphical element as defined by the second graphical element object referenced by the first graphical element object.

For example, the first graphical element may be a text field and the second graphical element at least one of a data link or a hyperlink. Therefore, the display includes the preview of the display view (block 810 ) the representation of data obtained via the at least one of the data links or the hyperlink, in accordance with static text indicated by the configuration of the text field.

In another example, the first graphical element is a graphic and the second graphic element is an animation. In this example, previewing the display view (Block 810 ) representing the preview of the display view, which represents a runtime behavior of the animation of the graphic. In some embodiments, the method 800 further comprising providing graphical graphical application (s) via the user interface of the graphic configuration application associated with graphics and animation of the graphics, and the runtime behavior of at least a portion of the animation of the graphics may be manipulated by manipulation of the one or more graphical phones User interface of the graphical configuration application.

Additionally or alternatively, the second graphical element object may be an animation transformation function object that includes one or more inputs that define one or more trigger conditions, a logic definition that is applied to the one or more inputs, and an output that indicates whether the animation is based on a result of the logic definition applied to the one or more inputs or not. Accordingly, displaying the preview of the display view (block 810 ) additionally or alternatively include displaying the preview representing the runtime appearance and behavior of at least a portion of the animation of the graphic based on the output of the object of the animation conversion function referenced by the first object of the graphical element.

In yet another example, the second graphical element includes an operator interaction, wherein the operator interaction is a user control. Displaying the Preview of the Display View (Block 810 ) comprises displaying an interactive preview of the display view that (i) receives activation of the operator interaction on the first graphical element represented by the preview via the user interface of the graphical configuration application, and (ii) in response to activation of the operator interaction on the first graphical user interface Element represents a corresponding runtime image and / or a corresponding runtime behavior of the display view.

In some implementations, the configuration of the design representation includes a plurality of operator interactions configured in a subset of the entirety of the graphical elements previously included in the display view. Each configured operator interaction corresponds to a respective user control on a corresponding graphical element of the subset. Accordingly, the method 800 further upon activation of a show interaction user control (eg, provided by the user interface of the graphical configuration application), wherein the subset of the graphical elements into which the plurality of user interactions are configured are distinguished from other graphical elements that are displayed in the preview of the display view.

In another example, the second graphical element is a contextual representation and the second graphical element object displays content for presentation via the contextual representation. In addition, the configuration of the first graphical element includes a user account that activates the contextual display. Displaying the Preview of the Display View (Block 810 In this example, presenting an interactive preview includes (i) via the UI of the graphical configuration application, an indication of activation of the user control that activates the contextual display, and (ii) in response to the activation of the user control activates the contextual display, displays a runtime image and / or behavior of the contextual display and its content.

In one embodiment, the first graphical element is a line-graph element configured with one or more characteristics, one of which is a cross-over convention property. In this embodiment, the method comprises 800 further, automatically configuring the line-graph element with the one or more properties of the line-graph element, including the specified inheritance convention, so that all the acquisitions that occur in the line-graph element follow the convention specified by the property of the inheritance convention. The crossover convention property may be defined to indicate a particular style of representing a lack of a physical intersection between physical controls represented by the line graph element and a intersecting line graph element, such as a line break or gap, semicircle, etc., in the Display view. In some implementations, the method includes 800 further automatically adjusting the respective appearances of instances of the crossover convention in response to a change in one or more other properties of the line graph element (eg, line width, orientation, position, length, and / or other properties) to thereby effect the change one or more other properties in the display view.

In yet another example, the second graphical element is a timer configured with one or more properties, wherein the one or more properties may include at least one action, duration, activation state, or trigger condition of the timer. In this example, previewing the display view (Block 810 ) representing a representation of a runtime appearance and / or behavior of at least one graphical element of the display view based on the at least one of the actions, the duration, the activation state, or the trigger condition of the timer.

In another example, the first graphical element is still a tabbed graphic element and the second graphical element is a particular display view. Displaying the Preview of the Display View (Block 810 ) includes presenting an interactive preview that (i) receives activation of a user control configured in the graphical element of the tabular display view via the user interface of the graphical configuration application, and (ii) a runtime image in response to the received activation at the graphical element of the tabular display view and / or represents a behavior of the respective display view.

In some embodiments of the tabbed display view graphical element, the tabbed display view graphical element includes a plurality of tabulated graphical elements, each of which is configured with a respective user control and each of which is defined to refer to a respective display view. In such embodiments, presenting the interactive preview of the graphical element (block 810 ) the tabulated display view: presenting a corresponding indication to each tabulated graphical element of the plurality of tabulated graphical elements; receiving, via the user interface of the graphical configuration application, an indication of activation of a particular user control on a particular tabulated graphical element; and displaying the respective display view of the respective tabulated graphical element at a foreground of the user interface of the graphical configuration application in response to activation of the particular user control.

In some embodiments, the method includes 800 providing a bulk-edit user control on the graphical configuration application UI; or applying a specific property to each graphical element of a selected set of graphical elements that respond to a single activation of the bulk edit user control through the graphic configuration application UI, e.g. For example, while the display view configuration is being created or edited. Advantageously, the selected group graphic elements may include at least one animation or script.

In some embodiments, the method includes 800 further, automatically maintaining a connection of a line graphic element with a form graphic element included in the design of the display view configuration by the graphical configuration application while changing the shape graphic element and / or a position of the form graphic element on the display view via the graphical configuration application, e.g. , For example, while the display view configuration is being created or edited.

In some embodiments, the method includes 800 and providing (eg, at the graphical configuration application user interface 110 ) a blocking user control; Receiving an indication of activation of the disable user control with respect to a particular graphical element of the one or more graphical elements; and in response to receiving activation of the disable user control, prevent a position of the particular graphic element within the display view from being changed without receipt of an indication of deactivation of the disable user control with respect to the particular graphical element, e.g. For example, while the display view configuration is being created or edited.

In some embodiments, the method includes 800 and providing (e.g., at the user interface of the graphical configuration application 110 ) a hidden or grayed out user control; receiving an indication of activation of the hidden or greyed user control with respect to a particular graphical element of the one or more graphical elements; and fading out or graying out the particular graphical element represented in the user interface of the graphical configuration application, e.g. During the configuration of the display view being created or edited in response to receiving activation of the hidden or greyed out user control.

In some embodiments, the method includes 800 the provision of (eg via the user interface of the graphical configuration application 110 ), one or more graphical handles, each associated with one or more types of graphical elements; Receiving an indication of a manipulation of at least one of the one or more graphical handles through the user interface of the graphical configuration application; and in response to the manipulation of the at least one of the one or more graphical handles, automatically modifying one or more properties of corresponding instances of the one or more types of graphical elements, e.g. During the configuration of the display view. during creation or editing.

Of course, the procedure can 800 Include additional, less, or alternative actions, including those described elsewhere herein.

The present disclosure addresses various features and aspects within the configuration environment 102 the process plant 10 that can be used by the configuration engineer or user in creating, designing, developing or creating display views that are in the operating environment 105 the process plant 10 and which may be provided by the graphical display configuration and usage systems and methods described herein. It should be understood, however, that the graphical display configuration and application system and method described herein is not limited to the features and aspects of the configuration environment 102 and / or the configuration application described herein 110 is limited. In general, the novel techniques described herein may apply to any function or aspect of the configuration environment 102 which allows a configuration engineer to inline create, define, preview, and edit graphical elements and / or graphical element displays during the configuration process without having to drafts graphical configurations into the operating environment 105 compile and / or download to determine the look and / or behavior of the runtime, and / or without requiring special scripts within the operating environment 105 have to be implemented. By using these various features and aspects, the configuration engineer can significantly reduce the time it takes to configure, define, develop, and / or manipulate display views and the graphical elements they contain.

Embodiments of the techniques described in the present disclosure may include any number of the following aspects, either individually or in combination:

A graphical system configuration system for a process plant, the graphical configuration system comprising a graphical configuration application executing in a process plant configuration environment, the graphical configuration application having a user interface presenting a design of a display view configuration, the design of the configuration the display view comprises one or more graphical elements;
the view configuration defining corresponding links between one or more graphical elements contained on the display view and one or more controls included in an operating environment of the process plant so that when downloading and executing the display view on a user interface device, the in the operating environment of the process plant, displaying corresponding one or more values generated by one or more controls as they are executed in the operating environment of the process plant to control the process, displayed and repeatedly updated in the executing display view; and
the graphical configuration application that provides a preview user control on the user interface that, when activated before publication of the display view configuration, effects a preview of at least one of a runtime image or runtime behavior of the one or more in the design of the configuration Display graphical display that is created and displayed on the user interface of the graphical configuration application,
wherein publications of configurations of display views may be provided to the operating environment of the process control system, and wherein drafts of configurations of display views may not be provided to the operating environment of the process control system.

2. The graphical configuration system of the preceding aspect, wherein: the graphical configuration application further provides a publish user control to the user interface of the graphical configuration application that, when activated, publishes the display view configuration to thereby produce a particular publication of the display view configuration ; and previewing the design view of the display view within the configuration environment without accessing a published display view configuration.

3. The graphical configuration system of one of the preceding aspects, wherein: the design of the configuration of the one or more graphical elements is included in a design of a configuration of the display view presented on the user interface of the graphical configuration application; enabling preview user control causes a runtime appearance preview and runtime behavior of the display view configuration design to be generated and displayed on the user interface of the graphical configuration application; the preview of the display view includes the preview of the one or more graphical elements. Optionally, the preview of the display view is generated independent of the operating environment of the process plant, i. H. completely within the configuration environment of the process plant.

4. The graphical configuration system of one of the preceding aspects, wherein: a first graphical element object defines a configuration of a first graphical element of the one or more graphical elements; a second graphical element object defines a configuration of a second graphical element of the one or more graphical elements; the first graphical element object is defined to refer to the second graphical element object; and at least one of a look or behavior of the first graphical element is defined at runtime by the second graphical element object referenced by the first graphical element object.

5. The graphical configuration system of any preceding aspect, wherein: the first graphical element is a text field and the second graphical element is at least one of a data link or a hyperlink; and the preview represents a runtime appearance of the design configuration of the text box, wherein the runtime appearance of the design configuration of the text box includes content obtained via the at least one of the data links or the hyperlink displayed in accordance with the static text provided by the design of the configuration of the text box.

6. The graphical configuration system of the previous aspect, wherein the first graphical element is a graphic, the second graphical element is an animation, and the preview is a run-time behavior of the design configuration of the animation of the graphic.

7. The graphical configuration system of the preceding aspect, wherein at least a portion of the animation of the graphic is defined through the user interface of the graphical configuration application by manipulating one or more graphical handles.

8. The graphical configuration system of one of the preceding aspects, wherein the second graphical element object includes an object having an animation conversion function configured to generate at least a portion of the animation.

9. The graphical configuration system of the previous aspect, wherein: the object of the animation conversion function includes one or more inputs defining one or more trigger conditions, a logic definition applied to the one or more inputs, and an output indicating whether or not the animation should be applied based on a result of the logic definition applied to the one or more inputs; and the preview representing the runtime behavior of the design of the configuration of the at least part of the animation of the graphic is based on the output of the object of the animation conversion function referenced by the first object of the graphical element.

10. The graphical configuration system of one of the preceding aspects, wherein: the second graphical element comprises an operator interaction, the operator interaction being a user control; and previewing the design configuration of one or more graphical elements is an interactive preview that receives an indication of activation of user interaction user control via the user interface of the graphical configuration application at the first graphical element and a corresponding runtime image and / or runtime behavior of the design configuration of the one or the plurality of graphical elements in response to activation of the operator interaction user control.

11. The graphical configuration system of one of the preceding aspects, wherein: the design of the configuration of the one or more graphical elements is included in a design of the configuration of the display view; the design of the display view configuration includes a plurality of operator interactions configured into a subset of a set of graphical elements, wherein each operator interaction included in the plurality of operator interactions is a corresponding user control configured into a respective graphical element of the subset; a preview of the design of the display view configuration includes the set of graphical elements; and the graphical configuration application further provides on the user interface a display interaction user control that, when activated, distinguishes the subset of graphical elements in which the plurality of user interactions are each configured by other graphical elements based on the preview of the design of the display view configuration are shown.

12. The graphical configuration system of one of the preceding aspects, wherein: the second graphical element is a contextual display and the second graphical element object displays content to be presented via the contextual display; the first graphical element includes a particular user control that activates the contextual display; and the preview of the design of the configuration of the one or more graphical elements is an interactive preview that receives (i) an indication of activation of the particular user control corresponding to the first graphical element via the user interface of the graphical configuration application, and (ii) in response upon activation of the particular user control corresponding to the first graphical element, represents a runtime appearance of the contextual display design configuration including the content presented via the contextual display.

13. The graphical configuration system of one of the preceding aspects, wherein: the first graphical element is a line graphic element configured with one or more properties; wherein the one or more properties include a crossover convention property to indicate or define a particular style that in the display views represents a lack of a physical intersection between respective physical controls represented by intersecting line graphic elements.

14. The graphical configuration of the preceding aspect, wherein occurrence of an instance of a transition of the line graph element is automatically adjusted on the user interface and in response to a change in one or more other properties of the line graph element to accommodate the change of the one or more other properties ,

15. The graphical configuration system of one of the preceding aspects, wherein: the second graphical element is a timer graphic element configured with one or more properties, the one or more properties being at least one of an action, a duration, an activation state, or a Include trigger condition of the timer graphic element; and the preview of the one or more graphical elements included in the display view, the runtime behavior of the design configuration of the one or more graphical elements, the runtime behavior of the one or more graphical elements, the at least one of the action, represents the duration, activation state or trigger condition of the timer graphic element.

16. The graphical configuration system of any one of the preceding aspects, wherein: the first graphical element is a tabbed graphical element; the second graphical element is a particular display view; and the preview of the design configuration of the one or more graphical elements is an interactive preview that (i) receives activation of a user control configured in the tabbed graphic element via the graphic configuration application user interface and (ii) in response to the received activation at tab-view graphical element represents at least one of run-time phenomena or run-time behavior of the respective display view in the foreground of the user interface of the graphical configuration application.

17. The graphical configuration system of the preceding aspect, wherein the graphical element of the tabbed display view includes a plurality of tabular graphical elements, each configured with a respective user control and each of which is defined to reference a respective display view; and wherein the interactive preview represents a corresponding display of each tabular graphical element and at a foreground of the graphic configuration application user interface represents the respective display view of a particular tabular graphical element when activated via the GUI user interface of the respective user control of the respective tabular graphical element.

18. The graphical configuration system of claim 17, wherein the graphical element of each tab is further defined to change the appearance of at least one visual property of the graphical element of each tab that responds to data being output from at least one of the one or more controls during the process Execution can be generated in the operating environment of the process plant.

19. The graphical configuration system of any one of the preceding aspects, wherein the graphical configuration application further provides bulk processing of the user control on the user interface; and wherein a single activation via the user control GUI bulk configuration user interface causes a particular property to be applied to each graphical element contained within a plurality of selected graphical elements, wherein the plurality of selected graphical elements is at least one of an animation or a script.

20. The graphical configuration system of any one of the preceding aspects, wherein the graphical configuration application automatically maintains a connection of a linear graphical element to a formal graphical element that results in the design of the configuration of the one or more graphical elements during a change of the formal graphical element the graphical configuration application is included.

21. The graphical configuration system of any one of the preceding aspects, wherein the graphical configuration application further provides a disable user control that, when activated with respect to a particular graphical element of the one or more graphical elements displayed on the user interface of the graphical configuration application in that a position or positioning of the particular graphic element within the display view is changed without deactivating the disabling user control with respect to the particular graphical element.

22. The graphical configuration system of any one of the preceding aspects, wherein the graphical configuration application further provides a fade-out or grayed-out user control that, when activated with respect to a particular graphical element of the one or more graphical elements, the particular graphical element on the Hides or hides the graphical configuration application user interface.

23. The graphical configuration system of any one of the preceding aspects, wherein the graphical configuration application further provides one or more graphical handles each associated with one or more types of graphical elements about respective characteristics of instances of the one or more types of graphical elements can be graphically modified via the user interface of the graphical configuration application.

24. The method of configuring a display view for execution in a process plant operating environment, the method comprising: prior to publishing a design of a display view configuration, the configuration of the display view corresponding connections between one or more graphical elements displayed on the display view are defined and, when downloading and executing the display view on a user interface device included in the operating environment of the process plant, corresponding displays of one or more of the values contained in one or more controls are generated during execution in the operating environment of the process plant for controlling the process, displayed and updated in the executing display view;
The preview on a user interface provided by a graphical configuration application running in a process plant configuration environment represents a preview of the design of the display view configuration, wherein the preview represents at least one of a runtime image or runtime behavior of the design of the display view configuration it is permitted to provide published viewing view configurations to the operating environment of the process control system, and it is forbidden to provide draft display configurations to the operating environment of the process control system.

25. The procedure of aspect 24 the method further comprising: providing a publish user control on the user interface of the graphical configuration application; Receiving an indication of activation of the publish user control; Publishing, based on the received notification of activation of the publish user control, the design of the display view configuration to generate a particular publication of the display view configuration, wherein the particular publication of the display view configuration contained in the published display view configurations may be provided to the operating environment of the process control system; and
wherein generating the preview of the design view view configuration comprises generating the preview of the design view view configuration without taking advantage of the particular publication of the display view configuration.

26. The procedure according to one of the aspects 24 to 25 wherein: a first graphical element object defines a configuration of a first graphical element of the one or more graphical elements; a second graphical element object defines a configuration of a second graphical element of the one or more graphical elements; the method further comprises receiving via the user interface of the graphical configuration application an indication of inclusion of a reference to the second graphical element object within the first graphical element object; and presenting the preview representing the at least one of the run-time phenomena or the run-time behavior of the draft display view configuration, comprising presenting the preview representing at least one of the appearances or behaviors of the first graphical element as defined by the second graphical element object, to which the first graphical element object refers.

27. The procedure according to one of the aspects 24 to 26 wherein: the first graphical element is a text field and the second graphical element is at least one of a data link or a hyperlink; and displaying the preview of the display view includes displaying data obtained via the at least one of the data links or the hyperlink within the text field in accordance with static text displayed by the configuration of the text field.

28. The procedure according to one of the aspects 24 to 27 wherein: the first graphical element is a graphic; the second graphical element is an animation; and presenting the preview of the design view view configuration includes representing a runtime behavior of the animation of the graphic.

29. The procedure according to one of the aspects 24 to 28 further comprising providing one or more graphical handles associated with the graphic via the user interface of the graphical configuration application and at least a portion of the animation of the graphic; and wherein the runtime behavior of the at least part of the animation of the graphics is defined by a manipulation of the one or more graphical handles on the user interface of the graphical configuration application.

30. The procedure according to one of the aspects 24 to 29 wherein: the second graphical element object is an animation transformation function object; the animation transformation function object includes one or more inputs that define one or more trigger conditions, a logic definition that is applied to the one or more inputs, and an output that indicates whether the animation is based on a result of the logic definition that is based on the one or more inputs one or more inputs is applied, should be applied or not; and displaying the preview of the design view view configuration includes displaying a runtime behavior of the animation of the graphic based on the output of the animation transformation function object referenced by the first graphic element object.

31. The procedure according to one of the aspects 24 to 30 where: the second graphical element an operator interaction, wherein the operator interaction is a user operation; and presenting the preview of the design view view configuration comprises presenting an interactive preview of the design view view configuration that (i) receives activation of the user interaction of the operator interaction on the first graphical element via the user interface of the graphical configuration application, and (ii) in response to the activation of the user operation Operator interaction on the first graphical element represents a corresponding runtime image and / or a corresponding runtime behavior of the design display configuration.

32. The method according to one of the aspects 24 to 31 wherein: the configuration of the display view includes a plurality of operator interactions configured into a subset of a set of graphical elements included in the configuration of the design display, each operator interaction corresponding to a respective user control at a respective graphical element of the subset; and the method further comprises, upon activation of a show interaction provided by the user interface of the graphical configuration application, distinguishing the subset of graphical elements into which the plurality of user interactions of other graphical elements configured in the preview of the configuration of the design display are.

33. The procedure according to one of the aspects 24 to 32 wherein: the second graphical element is a contextual display and the second graphical element object displays content for presentation via the contextual display; the configuration of the first graphical element includes a particular user control that activates the contextual display; and presenting the preview of the design view view configuration, comprising presenting an interactive preview that (i) receives an indication of activation of the respective user control that activates the contextual display through the user interface of the graphical configuration application, and (ii) the received one Responding to the activation of each Save and Go to sleep user control that activates the contextual display represents a runtime image of the contextual display and its contents.

34. The method according to one of the aspects 24 to 33 wherein: the first graphical element is a line graphic element configured with one or more properties, wherein the one or more properties include a crossover convention property that indicates or defines a particular style to be lacking in physical appearance on the display view Intersection between physical controls represented by the line graphic element and a intersecting line graphic element.

35. The method according to one of the aspects 24 to 34 further comprising automatically adjusting an appearance of a transition of the line graphic element in response to a change in one or more other properties of the line graphic element thereby to include the change in one or more other properties in the display view.

36. The method according to one of the aspects 24 to 35 wherein: the second graphical element is a timer configured with one or more characteristics, the one or more properties including at least one of an action, a duration, an activation state, or a trigger condition of the timer; and presenting the preview of the design view view configuration comprises displaying a representation of a runtime behavior of at least one graphical element of the display view based on the at least one of the actions, the duration, the activation state, or the trigger condition of the timer.

37. The procedure according to one of the aspects 24 to 36 wherein: the first graphical element is a table-like display view graphic element; the second graphical element is a particular display view; and presenting the preview of the draft display view configuration comprises presenting an interactive preview that (i) receives activation of a user control configured in the tabular display view graphic element through the graphical configuration application user interface, and (ii) in response to the received Activation on the tabular display view graphic element represents a runtime appearance of the respective display view.

38. The procedure according to one of the aspects 24 to 37 wherein: the graphical element of the tabbed display view includes a plurality of tabulated graphical elements, each of which is configured with a respective user control and each of which is defined to refer to a respective display view; and presenting the interactive preview comprises: displaying a corresponding display of each tabular graphical element of the plurality of tabular graphical elements; Receiving, via the user interface of the graphical configuration application, an indication of activation of a particular user control on a particular tabular graphical element; and as a reaction upon activation of the particular user control, representing, at a foreground of the graphical configuration application UI, the particular display view of the particular tabulator.

39. The procedure according to one of the aspects 24 to 38 further comprising: providing a mass processing user control on the graphical configuration application user interface; and respectively applying a particular property to each graphical element of a selected group of graphical elements responsive to a single activation of the bulk edit user control via the graphical configuration application UI, the selected group graphic elements including at least one of an animation or a script.

40. The procedure according to one of the aspects 24 to 39 further comprising automatically maintaining a connection of a linear graphical element with a formal graphical element included in the design of the display view configuration by the graphical configuration application, while the formal graphical element and / or a position of the formal graphical element on the display view the graphical configuration application is changed.

41. The method according to one of the aspects 24 to 40 , further comprising: providing a blocking user control at the user interface of the graphical configuration application; Receiving an indication of activation of the disable user control with respect to a particular graphical element of the one or more graphical elements; and in response to receiving activation of the disable user control, prevent a position of the particular graphic element within the design view view configuration from being changed without receipt of an indication of deactivation of the disable user control with respect to the particular graphic element.

42. The procedure according to one of the aspects 24 to 41 , further comprising: providing a hidden or greyed out user control at the user interface of the graphical configuration application; Receiving an indication of activation of the hidden or greyed user control with respect to a particular graphical element of the one or more graphical elements; and in response to receiving activation of the hidden or greyed user control, hiding or hiding the particular graphical element in the user interface of the graphical configuration application.

43. The procedure according to one of the aspects 24 to 42 , further comprising: providing one or more graphical handles, each associated with one or more types of graphical elements, via the graphical configuration application user interface; Receiving an indication of a manipulation of at least one of the one or more graphical handles through the user interface of the graphical configuration application; and in response to the manipulation of the at least one of the one or more graphical handles, automatically modifying one or more properties of corresponding instances of the one or more types of graphical elements.

44. The method according to one of the aspects 24 to 43 wherein presenting the preview of the design view view configuration in the user interface of the graphical configuration application includes continuously previewing the design view view configuration in the user interface of the graphical configuration application.

45. The procedure according to one of the aspects 24 to 43 further comprising presenting a preview user control over the user interface provided by a graphical configuration application and receiving activation of the preview user control prior to publishing the design of the display view configuration; and wherein presenting the preview of the design of the display view configuration is responsive to the activation of the preview user control.

46. Each of the previous aspects in combination with each other of the previous aspects.

Moreover, the present aspects of the disclosure are exemplary only and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure.

The following additional considerations apply to the discussion above. In this specification, the actions described by a device or routine generally refer to actions or processes of a processor manipulating or transforming data in accordance with machine-readable instructions. The machine-readable instructions may be stored and retrieved on a memory device that is communicatively coupled to the processor. That is, the methods described herein may be embodied by a set of machine-executable instructions based on a computer-readable instruction Medium (ie stored on a storage device), as in 1B shown. The instructions, when executed by one or more processors of a corresponding device (eg, a server, a user interface device, etc.), cause the processors to execute the method. When instructions, routines, modules, processes, services, programs, and / or applications are referred to herein as stored or stored on computer-readable storage or on a computer-readable medium, the words "stored" and "stored" are meant to exclude transient signals.

Although the terms "operator," "personnel," "person," "user," "user," "technician," and other terms are used to describe individuals in the process plant environment, the systems, apparatus, and methods described herein use or interact with these terms are not intended to be limiting. If a particular term is used in the description, the term is used in part because of the traditional activities of the operating staff, but is not intended to limit the staff who could perform that particular job.

In addition, in this specification, multiple instances may implement components, operations, or structures that are described as a single instance. Although individual operations of one or more methods are illustrated and described as separate operations, one or more of the individual operations may be performed concurrently, and nothing requires the operations to be performed in the order illustrated. Structures and functions that are represented as separate components in example configurations can be implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly, structures and functions represented as a single component may be implemented as separate components. These and other deviations, modifications, additions and improvements are within the scope of the present subject matter.

Unless otherwise stated, discussions herein that include words such as "process", "process data", "calculate", "calculate", "determine", "identify", "represent", "cause it to be presented" , "Cause it to be displayed", "display" or the like, refer to acts or processes of a machine, a computer) that presents data represented as physical (eg, electronic, magnetic, biological or optical) quantities , within one or more memories (eg, volatile memory, nonvolatile memory, or a combination thereof), registers, or other machine components that receive, store, transmit, or display, manipulate, or transform information.

When implemented in software, all applications, services, and machines described herein may be stored in any tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable storage, such as a magnetic disk, a laser disk, a solid state storage device, a molecular storage device, or other storage medium, RAM, or the like ROM of a computer or processor, etc. Although the example systems disclosed herein, among other components, also disclose software and / or firmware executed on hardware, it should be understood that these systems are merely illustrative and should not be considered as limiting. For example, it is contemplated that any or all of these hardware, software, and firmware components could be embodied solely in hardware, solely in software, or in any combination of hardware and software. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art would like to understand that the examples given are not the only way to implement such systems.

While the present invention has been described with reference to specific examples, which are intended to be illustrative and not limiting of the invention, it will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art that changes, additions or deletions may be made to the disclosed embodiments without to deviate from the spirit and scope of the invention.

It should also be understood that, unless a term is used in this patent, using the phrase "as used herein, the term"     "Hereby as ...." or a similar sentence, there is no intention to limit the meaning of that term expressly or implicitly beyond its simple or ordinary meaning, and that term should not be construed as meaning which is made in a section of this patent (except for the language of the claims) is limited in scope. To the extent that a term recited in the claims at the end of this patent is mentioned in this patent in a manner consistent with a single meaning, which is for the sake of clarity only and not to confuse the reader, and it is not intends that this claim be implicitly or otherwise limited to this single meaning. Finally, it is not intended that the scope of a claim element on the Basis of application of 35 US-C. § 112 (f) and / or pre-AIA 35 US-C. § 112, sixth paragraph, is interpreted, unless a claim element is defined by the recitation of the word "means" and a function without the justification of a structure.

Although the foregoing text contains a detailed description of numerous different embodiments, it is to be understood that the scope of the patent is defined by the words of the claims set forth at the end of this patent. The detailed description is to be considered as exemplary only and does not describe every possible embodiment, as the description of each possible embodiment would be impractical, if not impossible. Numerous alternative embodiments could be implemented, either using current technology or technology developed after the filing date of this patent, and still fall within the scope of the claims.

QUOTES INCLUDE IN THE DESCRIPTION

This list of the documents listed by the applicant has been generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Cited patent literature

• US 62566679 [0001]
• US 15692450 [0022, 0081]
• US 15243176 [0022]

Cited non-patent literature

• American National Standard ANSI / ISA-101.01.-2015 entitled "Human Machine Interfaces for Process Automation Systems" [0011]

Claims (22)

What is claimed: A graphical system configuration system for a process plant, the graphical configuration system comprising: a graphical configuration application executing in a process plant configuration environment, the graphical configuration application having a user interface over which a design of a display view configuration is presented, wherein the design of the display view configuration includes one or more graphical elements; the view configuration defining corresponding links between one or more graphical elements contained on the display view and one or more controls included in an operating environment of the process plant so that when downloading and executing the display view on a user interface device, the in the operating environment of the process plant, displaying corresponding one or more values generated by one or more controls as they are executed in the operating environment of the process plant to control the process, displayed and repeatedly updated in the executing display view; and the graphical configuration application providing user interface preview user control that, when activated prior to publication of the display view configuration, effects a preview representing at least one of a runtime appearance or a runtime behavior of the one or more graphical elements. contained in the design view of the display view to be generated and displayed on the user interface of the graphical configuration application, wherein it is permissible to provide the operating environment of the process control system with publications of display view configurations, and wherein drafts of display view configurations are prohibited from being provided to the operating environment of the process control system. Graphical configuration system after Claim 1 wherein: the graphical configuration application further provides a publish user control on the user interface of the graphical configuration application that, when activated, publishes the display view configuration to thereby produce a particular publication of the display view configuration; and previewing the design view of the display view within the configuration environment without accessing a published display view configuration. Graphical configuration system after Claim 1 or 2 wherein: a first graphical element object defines a configuration of a first graphical element of the one or more graphical elements; a second graphical element object defines a configuration of a second graphical element of the one or more graphical elements; the first graphical element object is defined to refer to the second graphical element object; and at least one of a look or behavior of the first graphical element is defined at run time by the second graphical element object referenced by the first graphical element object. Graphical configuration system according to one of Claims 1 to 3 , especially after Claim 3 wherein: the first graphical element is a text field and the second graphical element is at least one of a data link or a hyperlink; and the preview represents a runtime appearance of the design configuration of the text box, the runtime appearance of the design configuration of the text box including content obtained via the at least one of the data links or the hyperlink displayed in accordance with the static text indicated by the design configuration of the text box becomes; and / or the second graphical element comprises an operator interaction, the operator interaction being a user interaction with operator interaction; and the preview of the design configuration of the one or more graphical elements is an interactive preview that receives an indication of activation of the user operation of the operator control on the first graphical element via the user interface of the graphical configuration application, and a corresponding runtime image and / or runtime behavior of the design configuration of the one or more graphical elements in response to the activation of the user operation of the operator control. Graphical configuration system according to one of Claims 1 to 4 , especially after Claim 3 wherein the first graphical element is a graphic, the second graphical element is an animation, and the preview represents a runtime behavior of the graphic animation design configuration, in particular wherein at least one of: (i) at least a first portion of the design configuration of the graphic animation the user interface of the graphical configuration application Manipulation of one or more graphical handles is defined; or (ii) the second graphical element object includes an animation transformation function object configured to generate at least a second portion of the design configuration of the animation, wherein the animation transformation function object includes one or more inputs defining one or more triggering conditions, a logic definition based on the one or more triggering conditions applying one or more inputs and an output indicating whether or not to apply the at least second portion of the animation based on a result of the logic definition applied to the one or more inputs; and the preview representing a runtime behavior of the graphic animation design configuration based on the output of the animation conversion function object contained in the second graphical element object referenced by the first graphical element object. Graphical configuration system according to one of Claims 1 to 5 wherein: the design of the configuration of one or more graphical elements is included in a design of the configuration of the display view; the design view view configuration includes a plurality of operator interactions configured in a subset of a set of graphical elements, wherein each operator interaction included in the plurality of operator interactions is a respective user control configured in a corresponding graphical element of the subset ; a preview of the configuration of the design view view includes the set of graphical elements; and the graphical configuration application further provides on the user interface a Show Interactions user control which, when activated, distinguishes the subset of the graphical elements in which the plurality of operator interactions are each configured by other graphical elements of the set of graphical elements that are represented by the preview of the design view view configuration. Graphical configuration system according to one of Claims 1 to 6 , especially after Claim 3 wherein: the second graphical element is a contextual representation and the second graphical element object displays content to be presented via the contextual representation; the first graphical element comprises a particular user control; and the preview of the design configuration of the one or more graphical elements is an interactive preview that (i) receives an indication of activation of the particular user control corresponding to the first graphical element via the user interface of the graphical configuration application and (ii) in response to the activation the particular user control corresponding to the first graphical element represents a runtime appearance of the contextual display design configuration including the content presented via the contextual display, and / or the first graphic element is a line graph element configured with one or more properties, wherein the one or more Properties include a crossover convention property that has a certain style of representing a lack of a physical interface between each physical control that is intersected by a line graph displayed on the display views; and an occurrence of an instance of a transition of the line-graphing element automatically adapts in the UI and in response to a change in the one or more other properties of the line-graph element to accommodate the change in one or more other properties; and / or the second graphical element is a timer graphic element configured with one or more properties, the one or more properties including at least one of an action, a duration, an activation state, or a triggering condition of the timer graphic element; and previewing the design configuration of the one or more graphical elements, the runtime behavior of the design configuration of the one or more graphical elements, the runtime behavior of the design configuration of the one or more graphical elements including the at least one of the action, the duration, the activation state, or the triggers Represents the condition of the graphic time element. Graphical configuration system according to one of Claims 1 to 7 , especially after Claim 3 wherein: the first graphical element is a graphical element of the tabulated display view that includes a plurality of tabular graphical elements, wherein each tabular graphical element is configured with a corresponding tab user control and each tabular graphical element is defined to refer to a respective display view ; and the preview of the design configuration of the one or more graphical elements is an interactive preview that (i) via the user interface of the graphical configuration application activates a particular tab user control on a particular tab degree element and (ii) represents, in response to the received activation of the particular tab user control at a foreground of the user interface of the graphical configuration application, the respective display view of the particular tab level item; In particular, the graphical element of each tab is further defined to change the appearance of at least one visual property of the graphical element of each tab that responds to data generated by at least one of the one or more controls during execution in the operating environment of the process plant become. Graphical configuration system according to one of Claims 1 to 8th wherein the graphical configuration application further provides bulk processing of the user control on the user interface; and wherein a single activation of the user control bulk processing via the graphical configuration application user interface causes each of a particular property to be applied to a respective design configuration of each graphical element contained in a plurality of selected graphical elements, wherein the plurality of selected graphical elements includes at least one of an animation or a script; and / or wherein the graphical configuration application automatically maintains a connection of a line graphic element to a formal graphical element included in the design of the configuration of the one or more graphical elements during a change of the formal graphical element via the graphical configuration application. Graphical configuration system according to one of Claims 1 to 9 Furthermore, the graphical configuration application provides user locking control that, when activated with respect to a particular graphical element of the one or more graphical elements displayed on the user interface of the graphical configuration application, prevents positioning or positioning of the particular one of the graphical user interface User interface of the graphic configuration application displayed graphical element without a deactivation of the blocking user control is changed with respect to the specific design degree element; and / or wherein the graphical configuration application further provides a fade-out control that, when activated with respect to a particular design graphic element of the one or more graphics elements, fades out the particular design graphics element displayed on the user interface of the graphical configuration application gray out; and / or wherein the graphical configuration application further provides one or more graphical handles, each associated with one or more types of graphical elements, graphically alterable over the respective properties of design instances of the one or more types of graphical elements through the user interface of the graphical configuration application are. A method of configuring a display view for execution in a process environment of a process plant, the method comprising: prior to publication of a design of a display view configuration, the configuration of the display view corresponding to connections between one or more graphical elements included in the display view, and one or more controls included in an operating environment of the process plant, such that when downloading and executing the display view on a user interface device included in the operating environment of the process plant, corresponding displays of one or more values from one or more controls generated during execution in the operating environment of the process plant for controlling the process, are displayed and updated in the executing display view: Presenting a preview of the design of the display view configuration on a user interface provided by a graphical configuration application executing in a process plant configuration environment, wherein the preview represents at least one of a runtime image or runtime behavior of the design of the display view configuration Published display view configurations of the operating environment of the process control system may be provided, and wherein it is forbidden to provide the operating environment of the process control system designs of display view configurations. Method according to Claim 11 the method further comprising: providing a publish user control on the user interface of the graphical configuration application; Receiving an indication of activation of the publish user control; Publishing, based on the received publish user control activation display, the design of the display view configuration to generate a particular publication of the display view configuration, the particular publication of the display view configuration included in the published display view configurations that the Operating environment of the process control system can be provided; and wherein generating the preview of the design view view configuration includes generating the preview of the design view view configuration without using the particular publication of the display view configuration. Method according to Claim 11 or 12 wherein: a first graphical element object defines a configuration of a first graphical element of the one or more graphical elements; a second graphical element object defines a configuration of a second graphical element of the one or more graphical elements; the method further comprises receiving via the user interface of the graphical configuration application an indication of the inclusion of a reference to the second graphical element object within the first graphical element object; and presenting the preview representing the at least one of the run-time phenomena or the run-time behavior of the design view view configuration, comprising displaying the preview representing at least one of the appearances or behaviors of the first graphical element as defined by the second graphical element object, to which the first graphical element object refers, in particular wherein: the first graphical element is a text field and the second graphical element is a data link or a hyperlink; and presenting the preview of the configuration of the design view view includes displaying data obtained via the data link or the hyperlink within the text field inline with static text displayed by the configuration of the text field. Method according to one of Claims 11 to 13 , especially after Claim 13 wherein: the first graphical element is a graphic; the second graphical element is an animation; and presenting the preview of the configuration of the design representation includes representing a runtime behavior of the animation of the graphic. Method according to one of Claims 11 to 14 , especially after Claim 14 further comprising providing one or more graphical handles associated with the graphic via the user interface of the graphical configuration application and at least a portion of the animation of the graphic; and wherein the runtime behavior of the at least part of the animation of the graphics is defined by a manipulation of the one or more graphical handles on the user interface of the graphical configuration application; and / or wherein: the second graphical element object is an object of the animation conversion function; the object of the animation conversion function includes one or more inputs defining one or more trigger conditions, a logic definition applied to the one or more inputs, and an output indicating whether the animation is based on a result of the logic definition that is based on the one or more inputs applied, should or should not be applied; and presenting the preview of the design view view configuration, comprising representing a runtime behavior of the animation of the graphic based on the output of the object of the animation conversion function to which the first object of the graphical element relates. Method according to one of Claims 11 to 15 , especially after Claim 13 wherein: the second graphical element comprises an operator interaction, the operator interaction being a user interaction with operator interaction; and presenting the preview of the design view view configuration, comprising presenting an interactive preview of the design view view configuration that (i) receives activation of the user interaction user control on the first graphical element via the user interface of the graphical configuration application, and (ii) in response to the received activation of the user interaction user control on the first graphical element represents a corresponding runtime image and / or a corresponding runtime behavior of the design display view configuration. Method according to one of Claims 11 to 16 wherein: the design display view configuration includes a plurality of operator interactions configured into a subset of a set of graphical elements included in the design view view configuration, each user interaction corresponding to a respective user control at a corresponding graphical element as described in U.S. Pat Subset is included; and the method further, upon activation of a show interaction user control provided by the user interface of the graphical configuration application, distinguishing the subset of graphical elements in which the plurality of operator interactions are configured from other graphical elements of the set of graphical elements described in U.S. Pat the preview of the design view view configuration. Method according to one of Claims 11 to 17 , especially after Claim 13 wherein: the second graphical element is a contextual display and the second graphical element object display content for presentation via the contextual display; the configuration of the first graphical element includes a particular user control that activates the contextual display; and presenting the preview of the design view view configuration, comprising presenting an interactive preview that (i) receives an indication of activation of the respective user control activating the contextual display via the user interface of the graphical configuration application and (ii) the received display responding to the activation of the respective user control that activates the contextual display, represents a runtime appearance of the contextual display and its contents; and / or wherein: the second graphical element is a timer configured with one or more characteristics, wherein the one or more characteristics include at least one of an action, a duration, an activation state, or a trigger condition of the timer; and presenting the preview of the design view view configuration, comprising displaying a runtime behavior of at least one graphical element of the design view view configuration based on the at least one of the actions, the duration, the activation state, or the triggering condition of the timer; and / or wherein: the design view view configuration includes a tabular display view graphical element, wherein the tabular display view graphical element includes a plurality of tabular graphical elements, each configured with a respective user control and each being defined to correspond to a respective one of the tabs To direct display view; and presenting the preview of the design view view configuration, comprising presenting an interactive preview, including: presenting a corresponding indication to each tabulator graphic element of the plurality of tabular graphics elements; Receiving an indication via the user interface of the graphical configuration application of activating a particular tab user control on a particular tab graphic element; and in response to the received indication of the activation of the respective tab user control, which in the foreground of the user interface of the graphical configuration application represents the respective display view of the respective tab graphic element. Method according to one of Claims 11 to 18 , especially after Claim 13 further comprising providing, through the user interface of the graphical configuration application, one or more additional user-friendly features, the one or more user-friendly features including at least one of: (i) automatically configuring a line graph element to include one or more properties with which the line graph element configures wherein the one or more properties include a crossover convention property that defines a particular style to represent on the display view a missing physical intersection between physical controls represented by the line graph element and a intersecting line graph element; (ii) providing a bulk-edit user control on the user interface of the graphical configuration application; and respectively applying a particular property to each graphical element of a selected group of graphical elements responsive to a single activation of the mass-edit user control via the user interface of the graphical configuration application, the selected group graphic elements including at least one of an animation or a script; (iii) automatically maintaining a connection of a line graphic element with a shape graphic element involved in the design of the display view configuration by the graphical configuration application while the shape graphic element and / or a position of the shape graphic element is changed via the graphical configuration application; (iv) providing a blocking user control at the user interface of the graphical configuration application; Receiving an indication of activation of the disable user control with respect to a first particular graphical element of the one or more graphical elements; and in response to receiving activation of the disable user control, prevent a position of the first designated graphical element within the design view view configuration from being changed without receipt of an indication of deactivation of the disable user control with respect to the first designated graphical element; (v) providing a hidden or greyed user control on the user interface of the graphical configuration application; Receiving an indication of activation of the hidden or greyed user control with respect to a second particular graphical element of the one or more graphical elements; and in response to receiving the activation of the hidden or greyed out user control, hiding or hiding the second particular graphical element on the user interface User interface of the graphical configuration application; or (vi) providing one or more graphical handles, each associated with one or more types of graphical elements, through the user interface of the graphical configuration application; Receiving an indication of a manipulation of at least one of the one or more graphical handles through the user interface of the graphical configuration application; and in response to the manipulation of the at least one of the one or more graphical handles, automatically changing one or more properties of corresponding instances of the one or more types of graphical elements. Method according to one of Claims 11 to 19 wherein presenting the preview of the design of the display view configuration at the user interface of the graphical configuration application comprises continuously presenting the preview of the design of the display view configuration at the user interface of the graphical configuration application; and / or further comprising presenting a preview user control over the user interface provided by a graphical configuration application and receiving activation of the preview user control before publishing the draft display view configuration; and wherein presenting the preview of the design of the display view configuration is responsive to activating the preview user control. A computer-readable storage medium containing instructions that cause at least one processor to perform a method according to any one of Claims 11 to 20 to implement when the instructions are executed by at least one processor.

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